Sero Hour
by Randomunit02
Summary: Naraku has won, Miroku and Sango are sealed away, and Kag and Inu escape. But what happens when Naraku resurfaces in the future? Years later, Sango and Miroku awake to find Inu and Kag are dead, and their short tempered son is all that remains. CH 8 UP!
1. Everybody loves the Prologue

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Sero Hour

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but if I ever do I won't write a disclaimer on my next fic. Or a fanfic at all for that matter.

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Prologue

WARRING STATES PERIOD, JUST OUTSIDE KAEDE'S VILLAGE

"KAZE NO KISU!" Inuyasha's voice echoed throughout the forest named after him. As the Tetsusaiga crashed to the ground it let loose a blast of energy rocketing towards its target: Naraku. He had acquired all the jewl shards, except for the three in Kagome's posession, and now he had come to claim them.

Everyone was relaxing in Kaede's hut after returning from shard hunting, when suddenly Inuyasha smelled Naraku. Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, and Kirara went off to battle, leaving Shippo with Kaede. They found Naraku in Inuyasha's forest, standing right out in the open next to the Goshinboku. This was the final showdown, and Naraku was in no mood for running this time. No traps, no tricks, no detachments to kill. Just Naraku. And he was ready.

"Inuyasha, your attacks are much too weak for me," he gloated as he rose from the forest floor after taking the blow without much injury. Miroku reached for his prayer beads in hopes of sucking up Naraku in his air void, but Naraku saw this and lashed out, stabbing him with a sharpened appendage and sending him flying. 

"Houshi-sama!" Sango cried as Kirara and her rushed to his aid. Naraku launched three appendages at Kagome, two shaped like blades, and one shaped as a hand. Inuyasha could not reach her in time as the blades stabbed her in the shoulder and stomach while the hand grabbed the jar she kept the jewl shards in.

"KAGOME!" shouted Inuyasha as he frantically ran to pick her up from the ground. "_Shit, this is bad!_" he thought as he looked at her wounds. "_She's dying, and we're losing! Shit! Damn! Fuck! How the hell did Naraku get this damn strong?" _ He looked up just as Naraku devoured the last three jewl shards. "Aww, fuck."

"Kukukukukuuuu… I want to be a full demon, with a power like no other that's never been seen before!" Naraku shouted. Suddenly, there was a blinding light that blocked everything from view, and when it cleared, Naraku just stood there, his baboon skin replaced with an elaborate kimono, and everyone could notice the telltale aura surrounding him.

Kirara leapt at Naraku to tear his throat out, but he merely lifted his hand and blasted him away with an invisible force that made the air ripple around it. That gave Inuyasha an idea.

"Hey, shitstain, how about you try that over here, why don't ya?"

"I am not a fool Inuyasha, I know all about your Bakurryuuha technique," Naraku spat.

Miroku slowly started to unravel his prayer beads, but Naraku heard the sound of them tapping together. "Kazza-" ***POW!***

Naraku had merely reached behind his back and fired off another shot of invisible energy. When the dust cleared, however, Miroku, Sango, and Kirara were found unmoving, sourrounded by a green, glowing barrier.

"MIROKU!" Inuyasha yelled. "I'm coming over there to bust that barrier, so just sit tight!"

"The monk cannot hear you, worthless hanyou. Neither can the other two. They are enclosed in a barrier that freezes all time and blocks those inside from the outside world."

"Well then," said Inuyasha as he put on a smirk, "I'll just have to break that barrier then, won't I?" Suddenly the Tetsusaiga began to glow red and Inuyasha got into a running stance. He broke into a sprint and got about ten feet before Naraku blasted the ground in front of him with invisible energy and then shot Inuyasha right in the gut with it. He could feel that he had broken some ribs, and had some troble getting up, but eventually made it to his feet. Then, he looked over at Kagome, and saw her lying in a pool of her own blood. She might not have much left, thought Inuyasha, and then he came to a conclusion.

He slowly sheathed Tetsusaiga, and made a break for Kagome, weaving in and out and dodging as he ran to escape Naraku and his ability to istantly make craters where people once stood. He hardly stopped for a milisecond to pick up Kagome, who had passed out because of blood loss. Inuyasha had a plan: run like his balls were on fire until he reached the well, and then get the fuck out of here. He'd be back to pick up Shippo at Kaede's later.

He made it to the well with Naraku close behind, and he didn't even stop to jump in, he just pulled off a flip and dove in. As he was falling into the well, he looked up to the top and saw Naraku standing on the edge of the well, with his hand outstretched. He saw air ripple around his hand. Then he saw nothing as he began to trancend times.

PRESENT DAY TOKYO: OLD DECREPID WELL HOUSE

He couldn't believe it. He just couldn't believe they lost. But above all, he couldn't believe how much blood Kagome had lost. When he reached the top of the well, he tore parts of his haori to bandage up kagome's wounds. Then, he entered her house. Her family was shocked, and called the hospital and readied the car, but also asked if Inuyasha would like to come. You know that he was going with them no matter what, even if he had to leap from rooftop to rooftop, but to offer to take him withought even reading a desguise? No new clothes? No HAT for christ's sake?!? Whatever… Inuyasha wasn't about to complain and offer to wear one of those head-covering things Kagome made him wear once. He was kind of skeptical about the car, however, but he reluctantly jumed in when his skeptisisim was met by astonished faces from Kagome's mother and brother. This was getting weird.

During the car ride, Inuyasha's fearful face looked out the window and was amazed. There were humans everywhere, as usual, but there was also youkai! Thinking he was just delerious from his horrid loss to Naraku, and the weight Kagome's wounds had on his conscience, and too tired to ask any questions, he took it in stride.

When they reached Kagome's room in the hospital, the doctor said she needed a blood transfusion, but needed a donor. "Ah, you brought a youkai, his blood should be fine." Said the doctor.

"Eh?" was Inuyasha's response.

Mrs. Higurashi wispered something in the doctor's ear and he nodded to her then put something behind his back. "Excuse me please," the doctor said to Inuyasha, "but is that the good year blimp I see out the window behind you?"

"Where is what and the hey now?" said Inuyasha looking behind himself, and then the doctor rammed a syringe full of sedative into his arm and hauled him off to donate blood.

They accidentally used enough sedative to tranquilize a youkai, not a hanyou, and Inuyasha was asleep for three days. He slowly awoke one morning on the couch in Kagome's house, to see Kagome actually watching TV on the floor in front of him. After sneaking behind her and scaring her, a stange silence fell over them. Eventually, she spoke, explaining everything about the new world they were in. It seemed as though the defeat of Naraku was supposed to bring about the destruction of all youkai, which obviously didn't happen. Her first suspicion when she saw a youkai was that Naraku had taken over the world. This was not true, seeing as most people and youkai alike didn't even recognise Naraku's name. It seemed as though Naraku just dropped off the face of the Earth after his victory. Youkai and humans interacted harmlessly together, and general peace was found throughout the world.

After her explanation, they went to check on the well, only to find that it didn't work. Naraku must have destroyed it, they concluded. They also found the place where Miroku, Sango, and Kirara were trapped in a barrier, only to find that it had grown a two-foot thick layer of stone over it, making it resemble a large rock. Inuyasha tried his barrier-break attack several times, but couldn't even scratch the rock. Defeated, they trudged inside. When they made it to the living room, Inuyasha noticed something about Kagome. She looked itchy, like she was hiding something, but before Inuyasha could ask about it, she slowly started talking.

"Inuyasha, I have something to tell you…." He knew that. He just wished that she would spit it out. "The doctor said that he did not know you were a hanyou, and that because of this it was dangerous to combind both of our blood. He was right, my genes have…changed. Your blood helped me regenerate my wounds quicker, but it left some lasting effects. The speed in which my body ages has been drastically slowed, meaning my life expectancy has increased. I'll live almost as long as a normal youkai." Okay, he could have waited to hear that.

Kagome suddenly hugged Inuyasha tightly, suprising him. "Inuyasha, I'm scared!" she said, not even bothering to hide the fear in her voice. "I'm scared of what else might happen!"

"It's going to be all right, Kagome." He held her like that for a while until fatigue overtook him. He must have lost more blood than he thought. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep with Kagome still in his arms.

YEAR 2045, HIGURASHI SHRINE, TOKYO JAPAN

Kagome finished high school and went on to tend to the shrine. There were no other effects due to Inuyasha's hanyou blood transfer. Two years later (she'd be twenty years old), she married Inuyasha, and in the year 2036 she gave birth to Sero, her son (for you math wizzes, if he was born in year 2036, and it is year 2045, that would make Sero 4). Inuyasha was well known and well respected throughout Japan for being the son of a great youkai lord, and that brought him much satisfaction. They also soon found out that people they knew in the Warring States Era were still alive today. People like Sessoumaru, Toutosai, Kouga, and Jinenji. They were all considered "friends," and while Kouga and Inuyasha have made up, Sessoumaru still retains some dislike for his brother, just not as much.

Inuyasha and Kagome were just enjoying a beautiful day outside when Inuyasha stopped, wide-eyed, and sniffed the air. He caught a familiar scent, a scent he had not smelled in forty-two long years.

"Naraku." he whispered.

"What?!? Said Kagome, astounded.

Suddenly, there was a shriek overhead, and everyone in all of Tokyo looked to the sky to find its source. A gigantic dragon-like creature with wings of bone flew overhead unleashing an earspliting scream. It seemed to be holding a small, circular creature rolled up into a ball. It flew high up in the sky, so high that it was almost invisible, and dropped the strange circular creature, and as the small thing flew towards the ground, it uncurled from its ball and let loose the familiar scream. But if you listen close to this one, you can almost make out the word: "_INUYASHA!"_

When it hit the ground, it exploded, and every living creature instantly evaporated and buildings were blown to pieces. People outside of Tokyo could look on the horizon and see a great cloud in the shape of a mushroom rising from their capitol.

YEAR 2060, TOKYO, ABANDONED SHRINE

Ashley was walking around her favorite spot, an old shrine that was never completely destroyed in the Awakening. She loved its old steps, and its well house that surely had many stories to tell, but what she liked most was the tree. In a time where sadness and fear prevailed, it was wonderous that something so beautiful could exist. It was gigantic, with flowers still blooming on it and a curious bare spot right in the middle of it. She liked to just sit there and imagine what the world around it must have looked like if one tree was this beautiful. A little strange it was, though, that it survived the Awakening. It was also strange that there were never any youkai near the shrine, as if the tree was creating a barrier. 

It was getting late, and her father would be worried, so she got up and began to go home, when suddenly out of the corner of her eye she saw a pinkish glow hidden behind some bushes. She went to investigate and found a circular grove of small trees she never noticed before, and in the middle was a large stone. She reached out to it only to pull her fingers away at its touch. "This bolder is…_warm_!" she said. She then pressed her hands firmly against the rock and focused on the warmth, still not believing it was there. 

Suddenly, before her eyes, the rock melted away to reveal a man dressed in robes, a woman in armor, and a small cat with two tails. They all stared at each other until the man spoke with a quivering voice. "Ka… Kagome-sama!"

Then, Ashley countered his question with a clever twist of words and amazing quick thinking: "**AAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE**!"

What do you think? Am I going somewhere or should I quit while I'm ahead? The action starts soon, and then the story goes places, so review and give me some feedback here!

BTW: Sero is pronounced "seer-oh," like zero with an 's'.


	2. The Future Blows

BIG TIME FUCK UP: I planned to post this the same day as the prologue, but as I was doing so, my monitor crapped out. It was about time, though, seeing as I had to take a whack at the thing just to turn it on. Today I got a new monitor, and I give you the fic. I am not really this slow, I just had complications.

Note: sorry about the math error involving Sero's age and the current time. I made fun of stupid people and was incorrect at the same time. In fact, the stupid "math wiz" I was making fun of (my friend) was the one that pointed this out to me. Just pretend that Sero is currently 18 and Ashley is 15. Oh well, read on. :) 

Sero Hour

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but if I ever do I won't write a disclaimer on my next fic. Or a fanfic at all for that matter.

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The Future Blows

YEAR 2060, TOKYO, ABANDONED SHRINE

After scaring Ashley half to death, and then clearing up that she is indeed not the one called "Kagome," Miroku and Sango introduced themselves and explained the last thing they remembered. Naraku had shot something, and then they blacked out. When he said Naraku, Ashley stared wide-eyed.

"I think I should take you to see my father. I live in Suburban District #03, it's not far." Ashley then began to lead them to her home. It took about five minutes to get there, and Miroku and Sango were amazed and astonished at what they saw. They were in some sort of large forest sourrounded by giant metal structures, most of which were destroyed or lying in rubble on the ground. Ashley led them past the metal structures and into an area with buildings low to the ground. These buildings looked newer, and there were people standing around them, and they gave Miroku and Sango suspicious looks. Soon, they came upon a road with a sign next to it that said Suburban District #03 and walked down it. Five minutes later, Ashley stopped walking.

"Here's my house," she said, opening the door to one of the buildings and stepping inside, signaling to the others to follow suit. Once inside, Miroku and Sango were amazed at all the strange objects found amoungst the rooms. Ashley left them in the kitchen so she could get her father. She returned with him five minutes later, and he sat down at the kitchen table across from everyone else.

"Is what Ashley said true? Did she really find you encased in a barrier at the old shrine?" her father asked.

"Yes, it is. How long have we been imprisoned?" asked the girl in armor.

"That depends. What year was it that you last remember?"

"I'm not quite sure. Miroku, what year was it when Naraku swallowed the jewl?" Ashley's father couldn't believe his ears. Was what they said true? Did they really battle Naraku when he swallowed the Shikon Jewl? Theat must mean they knew… probably not. No, it was hoping for too much that they knew Inuyasha and Kagome Higurashi.

"Today is the year 2060." Ashley's father said.

"Wow. All I know is that that is pretty far off from our time," Sango replied in awe.

Ashley's father went on to explain the events of the present-day world. "When Naraku disapeared in the Waring States Era, he was merely hiding until his powers were fully developed. In the year 2045, Naraku awoke somewhere in Japan, gifted with the power of nuclear radiation, learned of the capital, created two spawn, and sent them to destroy it. The spawn succeeded, and Tokyo was obliterated in what was known as Naraku's Awakening. Within a year, Japan was almost completely destroyed, and Naraku lost intrest in it. He now had an army of spawn, and moved on to Europe and America. He destroyed most of the continent's defenses in Europe and some of its population and annihilated almost all of the East Coast of America, then left it alone. He is still thought to be wandering around Japan somewhere, undoubtobly building another army of detachments to devastate Europe. So many people died of radiation poisoning in those years that everyone was made to take a DNA altering vaccine that makes you and your children immune to radiation poisoning and long-term effects and mutations. This did not make you immune to purified blasts of it, which Naraku uses as an energy weapon. In the meantime, we have been trying to preserve Tokyo, and have rebuilt living districts and even made a working district to reanimate the economy. Everyone still fears that if we bild too much, Naraku will find out and return to Tokyo to finish us off."

Miroku and Sango were shocked. Almost too shocked for words. They still had no idea what happened to Kagome and Inuyasha. Did they escape? Probably. Would Kagome live this long? Not a chance. Did Inuyasha survive this, "Awakening?" There's no way to be sure. Then Sango spoke up. "If we're going to be living here in this time, we should at least learn about it and adapt to it a little."

"That's a good idea. The first thing you need to adapt to, though, is a serious fashion change. Follow me to the mall." Ashley said. She grabbed Miroku's hand and dragged him out the room. Sango rolled her eyes and followed them. In the back of the room, Ashley's father took a large amount of Advil, sighed, and went to go take a nap, hearing Miroku ask from outside, "When you say 'Maul,' are we thinking of the same thing?"

ONE MONTH LATER

Miroku and Sango have learned much about the world in one month, and they felt content that they pretty much understood it. They even got their radiation vaccines. Something was bothering Miroku, and he wanted to ask Ashley's father about it, but on his way to talk to him, he had to reaquaint himself with Ashly's bottom, and three hit combo to the face Sango gave him reminded him of his goal. When he reached the kitchen, Ashley's father's usual hangout, he found him drinking tea. Miroku gathered his thoughts and asked.

"Mr.-"

  
"For the last time, Miroku, just call me by my first name, Nobunaga." Ashley's father cut him off without even looking at him.

"…right…." _What was I going to ask him? Oh, yeah!_ "Nobunaga, have you ever heard of someone named Inuyasha?"

Nobunaga stopped sipping his tea and slowly returned his cup to the table and said, "my father did. Him and his wife, Kagome, lived here in Tokyo the year of the Awakening, and were killed."

"I see…," said Miroku, his hopes decimated.

"But he had a son."

That caught Miroku's attention. "Really? Where is he?"

"Naraku had a set of spawn that resembled dragons," He explained. "They were the things that took out the East Coast of the United States. Everyone close to the East Coast was evacuated to the middle of the country where they set up better defenses. After the evacuation was completed, the American Air Force intercepted Naraku's spawn and annihilated them. The city of New York was one of the places that were under attack, and recent news says some of it is still standing. However, everyone from the city was evacuated, and the rest of the stragglers were scared away when a hanyou rumored to look like Inuyasha moved in and made the city his home. Inuyasha's son's name was Sero, and I have no idea how he would have survived the Awakening, but there is a lot of stories and a lot of proof that leave us to believe that it is actually him."

After two minutes of silence, Miroku finally spoke up. "I have a request of you, Nobunaga. Could it be possible to venture to this city and see if it really is him?"

"If you can find a pilot to fly you, then there's no stopping you. Though Sero might. Last time I checked, the hanyou hated visitors."

"Where can I find a pilot?"

"Right behind you."

Miroku looked behind himself, out the window to see Sango and Ashley talking about what the differences between the past and the future. It took him a full minute to comprehend what Nobunaga meant, but when it hit him, he spun around and stared at the older man.

"You mean Ashley, don't you?" Nobunaga nodded. "She's your daughter!"

"I trust you'll take care of her. And besides, the airships of today are a breeze to fly. It's basically takeoff, autopilot, landing." Miroku only understood half of that, making him much more agreeable. The few things he understood were that it was easy, and that the pilot took off stuff. "Besides, my daughter is a good pilot, been' flying for five years." Miroku understood that.

"I'll tell Ashley tonight, and you'll leave in two days. And, Miroku, if you find him, bring him back here." They nodded to eachother and Miroku left the house. If it really was Inuyasha's son, then there may be hope for this world yet.

That night he told the news to Sango, and she was very excited. The next day, they didn't see Ashley at all. Basically they prepared the airship by stocking it with food and recharging its energy reserves.

The next morning Sango, Miroku, and Ashley ate and met up next to the airship with boomerang, armor and staff in hand. You could compare the airship to a medium sized fishing boat. It was black with large white letters on the side that spelled "WoLf." It turns out Ashley spent yesterday figuring out where to go. At this ships speed, they should arrive in Manhattan at about 7:00. The three of them were about to pile in when Nobunaga suddenly appeared with something wrapped in a cloak.

"If you find Sero, give him this." He said, handing over the object. Once they were in the WoLf, Miroku unraveled the cloak to reveal a sword with an elaborate wooden sheath that was all-too familiar.

"Tetsusaiga!"

7:12, 20 MILES FROM MANHATTAN

New York City. The big apple. But this world's New York was shrouded in mist so thick you could see your reflection. The mist seemed as if the city itself was generating it, as if it was shielding you from it in all ways, including sight.

They decided not to cause a commotion by landing in the center of the town, and land on the Verazano Bridge and walk across it on foot. Like a stealth bomber, the WoLf landed silently on the rusted bridge, and the three passengers steped off.

They began their trek across the bridge, not helping that they couldn't see where they were going because of the mist, when suddenly the cables attached to the bridge overhead began to swing slowly, making a whooshing noise that shattered the silence somewhat. Just when Sango was becoming suspicious of what was wrong with the cables, something large and heavy dropped from above and landed behind them with an extremely loud *thunk*. Sango readied her boomerang, Miroku his staff, and Ashley got behind them. Slowly, as if it was limping, a large, green, zombie-like creature came lumbering out of the mist and into view.

"Hello?… My name is Sango… I mean you no harm-"

"FlEaShSsSsSsSs……." It moaned, sending it directly into the very large "hostile" category of unknown zombielike creatures that crawl out of mists.

Sango ran up to it and swung her boomerang as a club, but it dodged backward and jumped forward with a punch using remarkable speed and strength, sending Sango sprawled across the ground. Miroku ran up to it and whacked it in the side of the face with his staff. It reeled and took a step back before lethargically swiping through the air at Miroku, moving once again as if it was underwater.

__

I have to end this quick, Miroku thought. He ran up to it and, holding his staff in both hands (one at each end), rammed into it and began to push it backwards towards the edge of the bridge. With one final shove, he sent the thing careening off the side. All three of them looked over the side to see what happened to it, but the mist was too thick to make out anything.

"What was that?" Ashley asked.

"I don't know, but lets get off this bridge, it's creepy." Sango shivered.

"I agree. I doubt we killed it, seeing as it could jump from on top of the bridge. Lets just get to the other side and see if there's anyone living here." Miroku said as he handed Sango her boomerang and began to walk on.

When they reached the city, they were astonished. There was less mist here, so they could see their sourroundings better, and they were scary. Most of the tall buildings that were still standing had gigantic holes in the side of them. Holes littered the streets, and they led to tunnels and tunnels of the subway. Suprisingly, lady liberty could still be seen, standing tall and untouched.

From on top a small building, a man with dog-ears was watching three people wander around his city. What the fuck were they doing? He decided that they would eventually leave and he would be alone again, and if they didn't, he would make them. Suddenly, a familiar smell reached his nose. He smiled and said "This may work out after all." He laughed to himself as he watched them wander aimlessly.

After about twenty minutes of searching, they all met up in the middle of a street and discussed their next move, when suddenly they heard something and looked down the ally across the street from them. A green zombie emerged from the shadows and slowly limped towards them. Miroku started to unravel his air void, when suddenly something streaked out of the sky towards the zombie and kicked it to the ground yelling "I found you, you tricky little shit!"

The kick sent the creature sliding across the street. The newcomer ran up to it when it got up and slammed his fist as hard as he could into the creature's face, clearly breaking it and sending it flying into a wall. After the deed was done the sudden arriver turned around to get a better look at these intruders.

One was wearing pink and black armor and was holding a boomerang, and also seemed to be armed with a sword. The male human was wearing baggy jeans and a shirt that advertized Spitfire. The other girl had long, black hair, brown eyes, a white t-shirt and shorts on. She seemed very afraid of him. Good, he thought. Humans should fear him. But then again, they should also stay out of his city, so what was going on here?   
  
Miroku was surveying the new arrival. He was tall, and had long white hair. At the top of his hair were two dog-ears, and he had deep, golden eyes. He was wearing baggy jeans that were ripped in spots, and a black shirt that said "BITE ME" on it in red. His face was a little different, but he could safely say that this was Inuyasha's son.

"You, with the staff. Hey, shitstain, I'm talking to you!" ooh, yes. This was definitely Inuyasha's son. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my city?"

The one in armor spoke up. "My name is sango, and this is Ashley and Miroku." As she said this, Ashley hid herself a little more behind Sango.

"That's one question. Now, what are you doing in my city, goddamnit." Even if he wasn't Inuyasha's son, he sure spoke like him.

"Well, we- LOOK OUT!" Suddenly, the rubble in the corner of the street was blasted away, and out flew the zombie, fully recovered. It flew through the air and tackled Sero, and they rolled around on the ground, Sero finally getting on top. The Zombie tried to sit up, but Sero headbutted it, and the zombie kicked back and sent Sero flying. The zombie got up and opened it's mouth, and shot an energy attack at Miroku, but he saw it coming and leapt to the side. Then it fired its laser at Sango, who also dodged it.

Sero felt it in the air twice. The all-too-farmiliar tingle. _YES!_ He thought. Just then, he saw the zombie charging up to fire at Ashley, when he yelled "Hey, big green ass-wart! How 'bout you stop picking on the kids and come play with the big boys?"

The zombit turned and fired its energy at Sero, who just stood their spread eagle as he took the blow that sent him sliding across the ground. Everyone gasped and all was silent when, slowly, Sero rose to his feet.

His bangs were hiding his face as he said "Heh, heh, heh… you've done a bad thing, because…." He raised his head to reveal that his eyes were now red "NOW YOUR MINE!"

Sero ran at him and while he was dodging the zombie's attackes he said "we already tried the head… lets check out the heart!" and shoved his hand in it's chest and retracted it quickly. The zombie just stood there before falling over, dead.

"One down."

He looked at the others and beckoned. "Follow me, and I'll explain." His eyes still glowing red.


	3. Tetsusaiga and the Toilet Monster

Plz review if you read this fic, because I just want to know if people are ignoring it or just refusing to review, so review plz.

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Sero Hour

Disclaimer: (insert witty opening) I don't own Inuyasha, (insert witty closing.)

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Tetsusaiga and the Toilet Monster

NEW YORK CITY, INSIDE ONE OF THE FEW SKYSCRAPERS STILL CAPABLE OF USING ELECTRICITY

Sero led the three of them into the lobby of a building that seemed to still have electricity. Only Sero knew this, but deep underground there was a geothermal generator that powered some of the buildings, and this was one such building. It remained untouched and undamaged. As they rode the elevator to the 53rd floor, Sero kept wondering why he trusted them so much. Maybe it was just the arrogance of when he was in this form, or maybe it was because they warned him of the zombie's attack. Or he was lonely. Nah. They reached floor 53 and stepped off. They went down the hall and entered the room at the end. It was a large apartment, and it seemed that Sero had made this his base camp.

He sat them down in the living room and started to explain about what happened back there. "I guess your wondering what happened to my eyes? Uhh, yeah, I guess so. I don't really know how, but for some reason, when radiation hits me, I absorb it instead of take damage from it. It kind of supercharges me. And the zombie, right. Naraku really doesn't like me for some reason, and he's singled me out to his offspring, and now every week or so they come here to try to kill me. I don't think Naraku knows about my reaction to his radiation, or if he just can't help himself from putting radiation into his offspring, because some are radioactive and some aren't. The zombie was one of Naraku's offspring, and I had been looking for him for two weeks now. It must have been looking for the food reserves." Sero then explained that he had been surviving for all these years on food reserves found underground in a secret bunker in the subway. The food is nearly limitless, and after all these years he had only depleted about 1/16 of it.

"So, then you really are Sero? That's your name?" Sero nodded. Then there was around a ten-minute silence in which everyone noted that his eyes had been slowly fading and now he was back to normal. Then, Miroku remembered something and reached inside his cloak to pull out something wrapped in robes. He got up and removed the robes, revealing a sword in a most elaborate wooden sheath.

"Sero, I present this sword to you as a gift of peace. It belonged to your father." Miroku said, getting on one knee and holding the sword out on both arms.

Sero quickly took it out of Miroku's arms, unsheathed it slightly to stare at it's rusted and damaged edge, snorted, and placed it back in Miroku's arms. "Crap." He said. "It's crap."

Miroku was amazed. Not only did he not want this powerful sword, but he was also refusing an heirloom from his father.

"I'll have you know that this is the Tetsusaiga, the sword capable of slaying 100 deamons in one slice. It belonged to your father, and I witnessed him kill many de- WHAT'S SO GODDAMN FUNNY?"

Sero was laughing his ass off at this. "You must be older than you look, cause my father died fifteen years ago. Besides, you got to be shitting me, killing one hundred deamons with one swipe of that toothpick in a sheath? It's got to be more blunt than your skull!"

With that, Miroku tossed him the sword and said, "The sword has hidden magic powers. You can figure them out for yourself with that attitude. You really are Inuyasha's son."

Seeing as Miroku was unwilling, Sango told Sero their story and of how they knew Inuyasha. Sero was listening much more intently to Sango than Miroku, because he thought she was hot and that Miroku was just some stupid hippie with a cool stick.

They convinced Sero, with much arguing and getting hit with the cool stick, to return to Tokyo, if not for a little while. Miroku didn't tell anyone, but he thought Sero had great potential to destroy Naraku. So, later that night, they returned to the bridge to retrieve the WoLf, only to find that Miroku had left the radio, all the lights, the air conditioner, the heater, and the coffee machine on full power all day. This meant that the WoLf had basically no power. This would be no problem, but the backup energy reserves were empty because Jinenji, the engineer, must have forgot to recharge them.

The WoLf had only enough power for them to fly it to a safer place in a car garage and let it recharge, which would take a week. During that week, they basically wandered around during the day, and sat around and talked at night, because the city was freaky when there was only one building with lights on. Sero didn't tell anyone, but he kind of enjoyed the company after living in the city for eight years without any contact with the outside world. Except for Naraku's spawn, but you had to be really screwed up in the head to make small talk as you fight for your life.

Then, one night they checked the WoLf's power, and decided that the next morning it would have enough power to fly them to Tokyo.

They awoke next morning and exited Sero's home building. "Are you going to miss this place?" Sango asked, as they walked across town to the car garage.

"Probably. I might come back some day, but right now, I just want to get the fuck out of here." Then he smelled something… something close by. '_Oh, god DAMN it all! How did I know I wouldn't make it out of here without this happening!'_ Sero thought as he stopped and looked around. 

Suddenly, a large explosion appeared near a building, and a large, yellow creature crawled out of a hole it just made in the wall. It was about 5 feet tall, and had sharp claws on each hand. On its forehead sat one horn, and its eyes glowed an eerie blue.

"Sero, I have come here to send you to your grave, or die trying." It said.

"Well then, I think I'll take the latter. And while we're on the subject, what rubble do you want for your tombstone? Don't rush yourself to a decision, I'm not gonna run out of it any time soon" Sero shot back.

"Cocky, aren't we?" it said as it leapt at Sero, who spun around and dodged it's attack while taking a swipe at it with his claws.

"OW!" Sero yelled at the top of his lungs. His claws bounced of the creature's skin, and the pressure his claws felt ended up hurting his hands. No, that's an understatement. His hand felt like it was on fire.

"Heh heh heh" the yellow demon chuckled at his pain.

"I'm gonna make you feel the worst pain imaginable. I think I'll tear your ribs out and feed them to you." Sero sayed, more to reassure himself that the pain wasn't there. 

He ran at the demon at full speed, and punched it right in the chest. "I think I broke my hand. Ow." He saied before the demon laughed and spun around, whacking Sero with his tail and sending him flying.

"Come on Sero, I don't want to tell my father that you were killed by a giant corn dog! Kick his butt already!" Ashley cheered Sero on. "Use your sword!"

That was right! Miroku had forced Sero to wear a loose belt around his waist and slap the sword to his left side, which in Sero's opinion made him look like a retard, but gave in and wore it anyway.

"Okay, you old, decrepid, rusted pocketknife of a sword," he said as he stood up. "If you really work, then props to the hippie." He unsheathed it. It still looked like it was ready to fall apart if a weak gust of wind was to hit it, but that wasn't his problem. No, his problem was a big yellow… thing in front of him that looked as if it crawled out of someone's toilet.

He ran at it and swiped with the sword. Time stood still as metal met flesh. The sword survived the blow! That's not saying it did any damage whatsoever, but it still survived!

Sero spent the next few minutes darting back and forth, side to side, whacking away at the creature using the most blunt of swords.

And doing nothing in the way of damage the entire time.

Finally, when the yellow thing had finished laughing itself half to death, and just before Sero was almost finished deciding if he shoud just stab it in the eye to shut it up, it hit Sero with it's tail and sent him flying. Again. But this time it was right towards Ashley.

Ashley was scared now. She didn't know what to do. She was afraid that Sero would lose and then everyone would be eaten by this walking turd. She started crying and whispering to herself.

Sero's ears could pick up the whisperings of Ashley. She was the one that never talked. She had cheered him on. Now she was crying and saying to herself that she didn't want to die.

Sero went over and sat next to her. He hated it when girls cried. He had only seen it happen a few times in his life, but he hated it. "Shhhhhh… don't worry, I'll protect you. Just stop crying. Please?"

Ashley looked up. He was comforting her, wasn't he? "Thank you. I'm fine, just don't die, please?" Sero smiled and nodded to her as he stood up and grabbed his sword.

The demon was just standing there. "The end of you…" Sero whispered. "Has come." He ran as fast as he could directly at it. The demon spun around and swung it's tail at Sero, who swung his toothpic- errr… sword! Sero expected to hear another clanking noise as the sword rebounded off of his enemy's flesh. If the clang was there, it was drowned out by the scream of his enemy as he lopped his tail right off.

Sero stared at his sword. If he were to use it as a toothpick now, he'd surely lose his face. It was huge, and it gleamed with the blood of his enemy. And as big as it was, it was weightless.

The demon ran at Sero who merely spun around and separated the demon's legs from his torso.

Sero sheathed the Tetsusaiga- HIS Tetusaiga, and walked past everyone in the direction of the car garage amist his enemy's screams of pain. As they made it to the WoLf, Sero merely said, "Let's just get out of this damned city."

And after gazing upon Lady Liberty in all her undamaged glory, they zoomed away into the mists, heading straight for Japan.

Once again, I apolgize about the lack of recent updates, but hey, I'm tired. 


	4. The Ghost Emerges

Blaze Cat: there was a semi-description of her in chapter 2, I'm sorry, but if I say any more I'll ruin something I want in the later chapters. Sry!

Sero Hour

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, god damnit. Stop stalking me. YOU! IN THE BUSHES! GO THE FUCK HOME! DON'T MAKE ME SHOOT YOU, BECAUSE I WILL!

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The Ghost Emerges

HALF AN HOUR FROM TOKYO, ASHLEY'S AIRSHIP

The ride to Tokyo was very awkward. Sero kept cleaning his transformed Tetsusaia, and shoot a look at Miroku, as if he was thinking of saying something to him. Just as he opened his mouth, he would close it quickly and go back to cleaning his sword. Wait five minutes. Repeat.

This was making Miroku feel very unsettling. He was expecting a stupid insult along the lines of "you stupid hippie, why didn't you tell me the secret to the sword earlier?" but it never came. Sango was talking to Ashley the whole time, and Ashley was driving happily.

Eventually, Ashley picked up a radio-transmitter thingy and called Tokyo. "Hello?" a deep and dreamy voice said through the intercom.

"Jinenji! It's me, Ashley!"

"Ashley! Why were you gone for a whole week? Your father's worried sick!"

"You forgot to refill the emergency engergy reserves you dimwit! Anyway, we're a half hour from home, and we found us a dog boy in the city!"

"You… you did? YOU DID!?! I'll tell everyone the good news!" and with that the converstion ended.

30 MINUTES LATER

They came over some land before landing in the hanger. They could see where the future Tokyo started. There was a large, 18-foot wall encircling it, and at the entrance is a large gate. A few miles in the distance, they could see an area where there were no houses, just a gigantic hole. The largest building in Tokyo was the airship hangers, and Ashley found their correct hanger, and landed. They didn't expect to see a crowd of about thirty people waiting for them, but you can't always expect everything. Miroku was observing the crowd as they landed. There was Nobunaga, Jinenji, several townspeople they knew, Sesshoumaru… SESSHOUMARU?!? Hold the phone!

This sudden realization made Miroku jump, slaming his head on the celing, and catching the attention of Sango. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"Sessho… Sess… Se… oh, just fucking look!" he said. As he positioned her face in the window and pointed. Sango gasped. It was him. The person that nearly killed them several times was waiting to greet them from a journey. Suddenly they saw Ashley walking up to Sesshoumaru and talking quite kindly, even if his face was carved in stone.

"Are you guys coming, or are you just going to stare out the window after we've landed?" asked Sero, walking down the stairs to go outside.

"No Sero, WAIT!" Too late. He was already outside and advancing towards Sesshoumaru.

"I can't watch this!" Sango said, covering her eyes.

Sero walked up to Ashley who was talking to someone who smelled like a dog youkai. "Where's Sango and Miroku?" she asked.

"Staring out the window. They weird me out some times." He held his hand out to Sesshoumaru. "Name's Sero."

"I'm Sesshoumaru" he said in a flat monotone, "and I'm your uncle."

This caused Sero to squeeze Sesshoumaru's hand a little too hard, judging from the blood seeping from between their fingers. Sesshoumaru didn't even flinch. By this time Miroku and Sango had crept out of the WoLf and up behind Sero, noticed the blood, and freaked out, entering their fighting stances.

Sesshoumaru looked up at them, and realization hit his face. "You are the ones that followed my brother around. It's about time you broke yourself out of that barrier. You know my name. But you do not know that now I own Tokyo."

This calmed down Miroku and Sango a bit, until Miroku asked "so, you're the mayor?"

"Mayor is such a dismal little word. I perfer owner, but whatever you wish to call it is fine by me."

After that, Sero was cheered on by the crowd for returning, Jinenji apologized about the energy reserves, and Sesshoumaru uncharacteristically held a small party for the return of his nephew.

After the small party, they walked to Surburban District #03, where they slept for the night. One of the townspeople contacted one of their friends about the return of the son of Inuyasha, and word spread quickly. Soon, there were people coming to Tokyo just to see Sero.

Anyone who tried to meet Sero, however, was sourly disappointed. The hanyou wanted to make friends as badly as he wanted Miroku's stick shoved up his ass, and bored people to death by just sitting in the Goshinboku and insulting them until they left him alone. All the news of him being terribly powerful could not be proven, seeing how he hardly even moved to eat. Every time Miroku walked by Sero he would just remark about how much he acted like his father, and sometimes you could hear the hanyou mutter something about hippies and elaborate sticks.

His favorite thing to do would be to sleep away the afternoons in the Goshinboku, and only awoke to eat or talk to Ashley when she visited the tree. They talked a lot and got to know each other better and even eventually enjoyed eachother's company.

Then one night, at around 8:00, Ashley ran to the tree in a hurry, and stopped at the bottom to catch her breath. "What's wrong?" Sero asked as he jumped down from the branaches of his tree.

"Someone… at the… gate… says they want to see you."

"So? They can come here!"

"Let me rephrase that, a DANGEROUS person is at the gate, and they want to see you!" Ashley said.

Sero was alarmed by her fear, and decided to go meet this stranger. He bent over. "Get on my back."

"What?"

"Get on my back. We'll get there quicker." Ashley did as he told and he zoomed away at top speed. Ashley was scared shitless from their speed, and they neared Suburban District #10, right next to the Tokyo Gate.

  
They didn't even reach the gate, but stoped at District #10 where there was a crowd of people. Sango ran up to Sero, and told him to follow her. They went up to the crowd and heard a man yell in an evil-sounding, raspy voice that said, "Where is the Son of Inuyasha? Where is Sero?"

Sero smelled that it was only a human, and put on a smile. "Right here!" he yelled, and the crowd parted. When he saw the man, Sero gulped.

He was at least eight feet tall, and was wearing skin-tight armor. The armor was mostly black, but had some white parts. On his golves there were two knives that were huge, and on his back was a zambeateu. His hair was short in the back, but his bangs were long and covered one of his eyes. None of that caught Sero's attention, however, as much as his eyes. They were blood red. And he wore a fanged smirk on his face as he stood towering over Sero.

When he saw Sero, his face lit up into an unearthly smile that showed off too many unnaturally sharp teeth for a human. "Finally. I know who you are, but you have no idea who I am. My name is Ghost, and I believe that I am the strongest human alive. I have trained for years against every opponent imaginable, and then I heard that the son of the great Inuyasha had returned. I have come here to test my strength against you."

"A human? Hah! A waste of my time! Go back to hiding from Naraku, and forget about trying to kill me." This Sero said to reassure himself. This Ghost's scent was almost hidden by the stench of over one hundred dead deamon's blood on his sword.

"Well, if you don't want to fight, I can't stop you, but you'll have to defend yourself at least!" Ghost yelled as he pulled his collossal sword off his back and swung it downward at Sero. Sero dodged it, but watched as the force of the blow made a trench in the ground.

"Okay then, human, but I can't be accounted for what I might do to you!" Sero yelled as he unsheathed Tetsusaiga and ran at Ghost.

"That's fine by me! But lets see if you walk away from this battle before you can be accounted for anything!" The two locked swords, and Sero was struggling for dominance, as was Ghost. Finally they broke apart and rushed eachother again.

Let me remind you, Sero only used Tetsusaiga once. His fighting style was based on the idea that an opponent's sword would not be as big as his. Having no actual sword training, Sero would just swing Tetsusaiga around blindly. Ghost would block, and use the momentum of blocking Sero's strike to spin around and slash at Sero, who would use his speed to dodge.

Finally, they broke apart again, and Ghost jumped at least fifteen feet into the air and brought his mammoth blade down in front of himself. Lucky for Sero, he moved back a few feet to dodge, but was blown backwards by the force of the blow. He had a huge gash on his shoulder.

Sero slowly rose to his feet. "This is not what I was expecting. I wanted a fight, not a target." Ghost said, his smile disapearing momentarily for the first time. This comment made Sero fume with anger, and he ran at Ghost again, this time with renewed speed. Eventually, they both deflected each other's swords out of their hands, and began to fistfight. Sero punched Ghost in the gut, and Ghost headbut Sero. Sero was about to use his claws, when Ghost rushed him.

Ghost ran at Sero and gave him a shoulder to the stomache, sending him sliding across the ground. He landed next to Tetsusaiga, and saw Ghost pick up his zambateau. Just as Ghost reached Sero, he grabed Tetsusaiga and blocked his downward strike while still on the ground. The force of Ghost's blow was pushing him into the ground and making a small Sero shaped crater.

"You are much easeier than I thought you would be. I wanted a challenge. Oh, well." Ghost said. Sango saw that Sero was losing badly and threw her boomerang at Ghost. Seeing this he leapt back to dodge it.

Sango caught her boomerang, and Ghost moved his gaze to her. Behind her there were dozens of people with guns. He smiled his unsettling smile as he sheathed his sword, then made a break for one of the buildings. He leapt on the roof of a low one, then jumped from building to building until he reached Tokyo Gate, all this time being shot at. He made it to the gate and ran straight up it vertically, and leapt over the top and out of Tokyo.

Sero slowly stood up and sheathed Tetsusaiga. His shoulder was driping blood, and his arms and face were covered in cuts.

He walked past everyone, his bangs covering his eyes, and went back to his tree to go to bed. Miroku and Sango went with Nobunaga to his house. Once there, they sat down in the kitchen. Then Miroku spoke up.

"Who was that guy? He was really strong. Strong enough to defeat Sero without much physical strain." Nobunaga waited a few seconds before answering.

"He is a Gaijin. No one knows where he came from and no one has any record of him. His past is a mystery and he has no name, which is where he got his nickname, Ghost. He has always possessed a hatred of Naraku, and that had driven him to become the greatest fighter ever. He was found one day out in the wilderness, destroying trees by using them as punching bags."

"He possessed a strength and speed beyond even Sero, and he was completely calm the whole time. How can he hold that sword and wield it the way he does?" Sango asked.

"Ah, Sango, I can answer that for you." Miroku stated. "I watched him fight, and he can wield it pretty well, but mostly his speed comes from the way he rebounded his sword off of Tetsusaiga. He was using momentum to enhance his strikes. But I have no idea how he can leap that high into the air."

Nobunaga rubbed his temples. "It seems we have a new enemy. Ghost is not done with Sero yet. His fight was interrupted. He will be back."

ONE WEEK LATER

Sero got over his loss and was back to his old cocky, lazy, boring self. You'd think he would want to train just in case Ghost would return, but not Sero. He had to be the laziest hanyou in the world. One day, Nobunaga went to the Goshinboku looking for Sero.

"Sero! Could you come down here? I want to talk to you." Sero just woke up, and meant to do a dramatic drop out of the tree and land on all fours, but being half-asleep, it looked more like he fell out of the tree and landed on his face. After Nobunaga was done laguing, he told Sero what he wanted.

Nobunaga had decided to visit the Blast Crater of the Awakening and was wondering if Sero wanted to come with him. Sero had nothing better to do (figures) and decided to follow.

They exited Tokyo through the Tokyo Gate, and entered a forest. After about five minutes of treking through the forest, the trees suddenly stopped. Nobunaga stopped at the edge of the forest and motioned for Sero to go on. He slowly walked to the edge of the crater. It. Was. Huge. It must have been mile across and eight hundred feet deep.

Sero gaped at the hole before him. Naraku did this. Then Nobunaga spoke. "This is not just a crater, it is a memorial for all those that died that day. This reminds us of all our hatred for Naraku." Naraku, who attacked us without warning or provokation, Sero thought. No one had to die, but they did anyway. He had to pay for this. He would make him pay dearly for this.

"Are you rady to go back?" Nobunaga asked solemnly. Sero only nodded and turned to leave, when his nose acted up again. 

__

"NO!" he thought as he turned around slowly.

"What is it Sero?" Nobunaga asked, but Sero was too busy making the angriest face he could muster. Suddenly, a figure emerged from the forest some twenty feet away. The figure that emerged was about five feet tall and was bright yellow, with one horn on its forehead, and its eyes glowed an eerie blue.

"Why didn't you die?" Sero asked the creature. He noted two very large differences about the creature. One, it's legs had grown back, and were now a silverish color. It's tail, likewise, was silver, and was also not entirely visible through all the trees. Sero guessed it's tail must have grown.

"Are you disapointed? I'm sorry, but I didn't feel like dying, so I adapted to death." It replied with a smile.

"Whatever, you still look like a turd, but now you look like an unhealthy silver one." Sero said as he reached for Tetsusaiga. "Nobunaga, get back, this is going to get bloody." Nobunaga nodded and retreated.

Sero drew Tetsusaiga and attacked the creature, who's tail suddenly appeared out of the forest. Sero compensated by slicing the tail, but his sword rebounded off its new armor, and then it hit Sero and sent him sliding across the ground.

Ashley suddenly had a vision of Sero at the Blast Crater fighting with the creature from New York. "Miroku, Sango, Sero's in trouble!" she yelled to them, who grabbed their weapons and followed her to the gate and into the forest.

Sero now had a full-size view of the creature's tail, and it must have been at least thirty feet long. He had no way of getting close to it without being swat away like a fly. He leapt at the monster, who manuvered it's tail in front of Sero and hit him out of the air.

After getting to his feet again, he stared at the creature planing his next move, when suddenly he heard Ashley yell his name and run out from the forest. He looked at her and yelled "Ashley! Get the fuck back!" but while he was distracted the creature whacked him with it's tail…

…right into the Blast Crater.

Sero fell about twenty feet, hit the ground, bounced, and fell the rest of the way down. Then he landed on his head, and was knocked out.

"SEROOOO!" Ashley yelled, but received no response.

"Ashley, go with your father! We'll fight this thing!" Sango yelled, readying her boomerang. They battled for ten minutes, and they were losing energy.

At the bottom of the crater, Sero slowly opened his eyes. His head was bleeding and everything was a blur. _Where's my fucking… sword._ He thought. Thinking was straining. His head hurt like hell. _Ha! Found it! _ He picked up the Tetsusaiga and used it as a cane to ascend the crater, which was much more difficult than it sounds because he couldn't see a thing.

When he reached the top, he saw Sango's boomerang get deflected by the tail of death and thrown right into Miroku. Suddenly, he saw wind, no, youki sourrounding the enemy youkai. Then he saw his own youki collide with the monster's youki and create a void in front of him. Then, the youkai's tail came straight at him. He ducked and meant to block, but in his delirious state it came out as more of a weak slash. Unexpectedly, the slash cut the void between the two youki's, and a beam of energy shot out of his sword and tore the opposing youkai into smithereens.

"….Wow…." Sero said, before falling unconcious again.

THE NEXT DAY

Sero awoke to find himself in a hospital room, and everyone, even Sesshoumaru, in the room with him. Apparently, his fall gave him multiple concussions and broken bones, meaning that it might take a few days to heal. Sero told his side of the story and how he cut the void, and Sango informed him that it was officially called the "Kaze no Kizu" or the Wound of the Wind.

"He figured it out just like his father, through madly swinging, blindness, and a near-death injury." Miroku said. Sero was the only one who didn't think this was funny.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There's your longest chapter yet. Nine pages. Though I kind of don't like the way it came out. 

Note: Ghost is not just a character I used so I could add a fight, he is important later on if you pay attention and watch out for important plot elements. The story is about to get a lot deeper.


	5. Pressure Mounting

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Sero Hour

Note: Sorry this chapter is a little late, things in my life have not been going as planned. School and my social life (yes, it exists. Shut the fuck up, Tim.) come first. My cousin is in the hospital for a rare hert condition, and I have been scared shitless for his health. Also, me and my friends just haven't had enough time to make it to all our school's sporting events, homecoming, AND to have Halo and Soul Caliber 2 parties afterwards at my house, and STILL have time to write a fic. Here you go.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha! Rumiko, please don't sue! I only have (checks pockets) a penny, some pocket lint and a parking ticket!

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Pressure Mounting

HOSPITAL LOCATED IN TOKYO MEDICAL DISTRICT

Sero was pissed. After he woke up, he couldn't remember many things aside from the outcome of his battle with the turd monster, and in his somewhat delierous state he even tried to argue with Miroku that green was a flavor. It was four days later now, and he had remembered many cruicial things, one of which was that he would not be let out of the hospital until he could feel his legs again. This was making him angry, because he could swear that he moved his big toe once. Another thing that irked him: Ashley thought he was angry at her for interrupting his battle and causing him to fall into the 800 meter Blast Pit (not that that would make him angry, nooooooooooooo). He was not angry with her for distracting him during his battle with the yellow demon, but he was angry that she came and endangered herself. Though, he was thankful to Sango for carrying him back, and was furious at that goddamn hippie for once again making him figure out another secret of Tetsusaiga the hard way. He threatened Miroku that if there were any more stupid secrets that he had to figure out, he would test out the tecnique on Miroku himself.

Currently, Sero could be found sitting up in his bed, cursing his injuries and mentally searching for scapegoats and reasons he had to shove Tetsusaiga down their throat. He was just thinking up ways to get Jinenji to build him a gun with a grenade launcher port and incendenary shells so he wouldn't have to bother with learning sword tecniques when Sesshoumaru walked into his room. "What?" Sero rudely snapped at his uncle's presence. Sesshoumaru's face remained unaffected, and he sighed mentally at how much his nephew reminded him of his brother.

"Sero, I've been thinking. It seems that wherever you go, you are bound to find trouble, and mostly it will come from Naraku's spawn and their hatred of your father. After your recent… accident… I decided that you could use a little training to better defend yourself." At Sesshoumaru's words, Sero began a low, steady growl that pretty much summed up his opinion on the matter. Sesshoumaru sighed and continued. "Your father had many friends, believe it or not, and most of them should still be alive. I know that Totousai and Kouga survived the Awakening, and are still around somewhere. Your training should not be too difficult if you get used to the idea of actually moving around instead of sitting in that tree of yours. Your training is to venture out into the wilderness, and locate Totousai and Kouga. That weird monk and his girlfriend already volunteered to accompany you, along with the daughter of Nobunaga."

Sero's growling had slowly gotten louder and more threatening throughout his unkle's speech. When Sesshoumaru stopped talking, so did the growling, which was kind of unsettling, but Sesshoumaru took this as a positive response, being the weirdo that he is. "Glad to see that you're so enthusiastic and excited about this. You'll leave in five days."

"Does that mean I can walk around now?" Sero asked with anticipation. Sesshoumaru merely rolled his eyes and got up to leave the room.

"Not until the nerves start responding and you can feel that you even have legs, you dolt." This left Sero with a look of major disapointment. "And stay away from the Blast Crater. I don't want your uncoordinated self falling in again," Sesshoumaru added as he left the room, leaving Sero to wonder if he should have a sniper scope and night vision on that gun of his while he was at it….

Over the next three days, Ashley would constantly show up to apologize for distracting Sero during his fight, and Sero would accept the apology and claim that it was unneeded. She would stay there and apologize for a half hour until her father pulled her out of the room, and each time she would reapear later, sorry as ever, as if she never apologized in the first place. "I swear, that girl's got A.D.D." Sero muttered to himself, as Ashley was drug out of his room for the fifth time that day. Sango would show up and talk about his father and mother. He liked these discussions for the most part, but they usually ended pretty sad, which Sero hated. In case you didn't notice, Sero was not toned into anyone's feelings, really, and hated mushy stuff. The hippie would visit now and then. Sero loved it when Miroku would show up. They would just joke around, insult each other, or talk about girls.

Finally, one day before he would leave for his training, Sero was allowed to stand. He was shaky at first, but the moment he realized he didn't have to stay any longer, he leapt out the window in an attempt to leave as quickly as possible, forgetting they were on the second floor and almost spent another day there. After recovering from his most 'recent' injury, he packed his stuff for the journey, which was really just the Tetsusaiga. They decided that they were going to see Totousai first, seeing as he was closer, and Miroku had a feeling that Totousai might have a present for Sero, seeing as he usually had one for Inuyasha.

The day came when they had to leave for the volcano in which Totousai resides, so Miroku, Sango, Sero, and Ashley bade everyone farewell and began their journey. Sero didn't see why they couldn't just fly the WoLf to Totousai's, but Sesshoumaru had confiscated the WoLf for that reason, and Sero was supposed to be training anyway. Besides, Ashley said that she never would have even dreamed of trying to land her precious ship on that dangerous terrain, and it would probably get ransacked by marauding demons anyway if left alone for too long. Sero still couldn't see why they didn't just fly, and Miroku wondered if Sero really was just some form of wood with organs and a face, mainly for the purpose of looking clueless. Sero didn't get that one either, but figured it was an insult and hit the damn hippie on the head as they walked. They weren't even a mile away from Tokyo, and already Miroku was half-dead. Oh yeah, this journey was looking up.

The path that they were to travel began in the forest, but was to slowly rise upward into a small wasteland maybe two miles from Totousai's cave. From there, they would have to scale a volcano and reach the top to where Totousai lived. That all was based on the idea that they could make it past the forest in which a deadly spider demon lived without being eaten alive. Fat chance of that. The trek to the spider's forest led them through a forest with very evenly spaced trees, as if every direction was a path or trail. Luckily, Sesshoumaru lent them somewhat of a map to follow, but even with that they had to argue with Sero about which direction went where. It was nearing the night of the first day, when they decided to set up camp. They had not seen a single demon or animal all day long, and all of them were quite bored.

They had made a campfire to cook some food, and were all sitting around it talking. It was unusually quiet conversation, however, because they noticed that one particularly loud voice was missing. Everyone looked to Sero, who never kept quiet, but who's mouth remained clasped shut at the moment. He was acting strange, sitting outside the light of the campfire, completely defeating the purpose of making it. Miroku wondered why Sero's hair did not reflect off the small amount of light that touched it when he had an idea. He looked up in the sky in search of the moon… there was none. Suddenly, Miroku reached out to Sero, grabbing his hair and pulling him into the light of the fire, despite his yells of protest. Black hair. Blue eyes. No ears. 

Human.

When he saw the looks he was getting from the others, he gulped and began to stutter. "Well… uhhh… you see, this has a perfect explanation. You see, once upon a time, a miko came along and-"

"You transform on the new moon, don't you?" Sango blurted out.

Sero sneered. "I was just getting to that part! Jeez!"

"You transform just like your father, on the same day as your father." Miroku said.

"Now, that wouldn't make sense, now. Me being his son and all." Sero snapped before crossing his arms and looking away in a vagely familiar stance.

Sango began to laugh at this motion, and Sero shot her a questioning glare. "Your father would do that pose from time to time, but when he did it, he would say 'keh'."

"Keh…" Sero repeated. "I like it."

"You should get to sleep, humans need more sleep than youkai." Miroku said.

Sero looked at him silently for about five seconds, as if he was thinking. Suddenly, Sero got up and turned in the opposite direction while saying "Keh!" and stomping off to climb into a tree. Being the clumsy human that he is, however, it took him several tries to successfully scale the tree. However, he fell out of it once he got to the top, so he just settled down on the ground, found it uncomfortable, and repeated the process all over again until he finally managed to get into, and stay in, the tree.

"Like father, like son." Miroku commented, before heading off to bed.

Ashley just sat there, taking it all in. "What just happened?"

THE NEXT MORNING

They all awoke to a happy hanyou, and prepared to set off once again. Today, they were nearer to the spider forest, and as such, there were youkai. Most just ignored them, but some attacked them. These were low-level youkai, and Sero could easily dispach them with his claws. Sango and Miroku, however, wished to practice, so after the first three youkai were killed by Sero, Miroku and Sango fought all the rest. "I thought **_I_** was supposed to be training." Sero said as they walked amoungst the corpses of dead youkai that fell victim to Sango's boomerang.

"Are you complaining?" Miroku asked.

"Not really. I just want to say that you are a hypocrite."

"You and your silly morals."

And soon, once again, the day came to an end. And so did the next. They awoke on the fourth morning to find that they were at the entrance of the spider forest, seeing as there was a line between the two forests. On the side they were currently on, there were open spaces in between the trees. In the spider forest, on the other side, there was a dense jungle, and you could practically see the eyes of carnivorous youkai staring at you from within the undergrowth.

With a deep breath, they set off into the spider forest, and headlong into any trap that awaited them. They met nothing at all during the day, and at night they could see glowing eyes just outside the campfire gloom, but the owners of these eyes never let themselves be seen. They spent two days treking through this jungle, and two nights sleeping in it, meeting nothing but plants and bugs, and the suspense was getting on Sero's nerves. Finally, on the afternoon of their third day treking through the forest, the plants and trees came to an abrupt end. It just stoped dead, all plant life destroyed and a desolate plain was ahead. They could see off in the distance, maybe two miles away, the volcano belonging to Totousai. After walking about a mile and a half, it began to get dark, so they set up camp in the middle of the plain, and decided to scale the mountain the next day.

The next morning, they set out towards the mountain, and hopefully to end this painfully dull journey and get on to their NEXT painfully boring journey. Sesshoumaru could really be an ass sometimes.

They soon found out why the sourrounding area is a wasteland. Rivers of molten lava flow freely about, making a maze of pathways to get to the volcano. Not only this, but there was also a lava maze to watch out for as you climbed the mountain. It was not very steep, but the gradual climb was hindered by periodical shakings of the volcano, as if it would erupt at any second. Finally, they reached their destination: the crater. This volcano was truly screwed up. The magma vents were on the bottom, so the crater never erupted, but that did not stop it from having a lake of superheated magma that you had to cross if you wanted to reach the cave that Totousai lived in. Luckily, there were large boulders placed across the lake that you could use as platforms to get across. Miroku and Sango went first, followed by Sero who carried Ashley on his back. Miroku slowly walked to the cave's entrance and saw an old man sitting at a table working on something that he could not see.

"Totousai!" he called, but the man did not answer. "TOTOUSAI!" he yelled this time. No response.

"Is that him?" Ashley whispered into Miroku's ear.

"I believe so." Miroku responded. "TO-TOU-**SAI!!!**" He literally screamed this time, letting the sound echo off the walls of the cave, causing everyone to hold their ears shut. The man did not acknowledge that anyone was there, but he did stick his finger into his ear, as if to clean it out.

"Enough of this bullshit!" Sero said, letting go of his ears and walking up to the man. Sero knocked him on the head, making the old man's face hit the table. The man slowly rose up out of his seat, and turned to face Sero. He was wearing rags, was extremely thin, and had a small beard and large, bulging eyes.

"Now, why'd you have to go and do that, you little punk?" asked the man. Miroku got his attention by waving and walking up to him. "And who might you be? You liik like a monk, but… are you a traveling salesman?"

"Ummmm… no. My name is-"

"A-HA! You are a traveling circus, and the thing with the weird ears is your star attraction!"

"Leave me and my ears out of this!"

"NO! We are not a circus, and I am not a salesman! My name is-"

"Your Sean Connory, aren't you?"

Miroku gave him an open mouthed- clueless stare for a minute and a half before slaping himself in the face and declaring defeat.

"NOW I know who you are!" Totousai exclaimed. Miroku looked up at him with amazement. Totousai pointed at Tetsusaiga. "You have my sword, so therefore you must be the son of Inuyasha… what's his name… Steve, Stan, Sybill… SERO!"

Miroku was once again amazed by Totousai. Not only did he have no idea who Miroku and Sango were, but he could probably tell you Sero's favorite color. "My name is Miroku, and this is Sango. You knew us, because we were the ones that traveled with Inuyasha."

Totousai satred at him thoughtfully for a minute before slapping his fist onto the palm of his hand. "I got it!"

"You got what?"

"Huh?"

"You just said you got something. Now what was it?"

"What do you mean? And just who ARE you?"

"**AAAARRRGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**" Miroku yelled as loud as he could while clutching his forehead in rage. Just talking to Totousai was giving him a migrane. Sango tried to explain who they were, but Totousai just nodded and stared at her breasts, which earned him quite a few lumps on the head. Ashley tried to explain who she was, but she was given the same stupidity treatment. Finally, Sero told Totousai who Miroku, Sango, and Ashley were, and suddenly his ears were open to anything the three of them had to say.

"Oh, Sero, I have something for you." Totousai said as he headed over to his workbench, pulling out a sword sheath. "This is a new sheath made for Tetsisaiga. Both sheathes have protective barriers around them, but the old one's is probably wearing off by now, so here's a new one." He said, handing Sero the sheath. Sero took it gratiously, but you could have heard him mumble something along the lines of 'WOW! A SHEATH! WHOOOPIEEE!'

"That reminds me." Miroku said. Recently we met a person with a zambatou that could block Tetsusaiga and not break. The man who weilds it is named 'Ghost.'"

"Ah, yes," Totousai said. "I made that sword for him. It is called Akujin, and it is made to be unbreakable, but it weighs somewhere around two hundred pounds. I made it for him because he killed the spider demon in the spider forest for me."

"WHAT?!?!" Sero yelled. "That bastard almost killed me with that sword, and you MADE IT FOR HIM!"

"Stop whining and grow up."

"This. Guy. Is. Bullshit." Sero said in a perfect monotone. Suddenly, however, Miroku tensed up.

"Sero, do you sense that?" he asked.

"No, but I can smell it. And it smells like shit. Naraku."

They all rose to their feet quickly and ran to the mouth of the cave. Overhead, they could see something slowly drifting down towards them. It resembled an angel. It was wearing a liquidy, silver armor, and held a blue sword that glistened and shined like water. It's face was covered by an ivory mask in the shape of a mourning face. It had two wings: one was covered in white feathers, and he other in red and black scales. It hovered silently over the magma lake outside of the cave.

It spoke not a word as it pointed to Sero and made a cutting motion with it's sword. When Totousai reached the mouth of the cave and saw the creature, he looked at miroku and said "friend of yours?"

"Oh yeah, we just thought we'd invite him over to your place for tea and biscuts." Miroku's words driped of sarcasm.

"He doesn't seem like a very friendly fellow." Totousai's stupidity could dry up a sea of sarcasm, however, and his words made sure Miroku's evaporated quickly, leaving Miroku dumbfounded and generally pissed off.

Sero walked up to the lake, and jumped from platform to platform until he reached the two middle platforms. The new youkai landed on the newt platform, and their gazes radiated of hatred. The next moment, the enemy youkai had leapt into the air, flying directlly towards Sero, who drew Tetsusaiga with a smirk, and let loose a battle cry that would begin one of the bloodiest battles he had ever been a part of: "KAZE NO KIZU!"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

hey, lookie, a cliffhanger! Well, not really. You kind of know what's coming, but the current battle will not be a short one, and I think it's about time to get this story moving along, so I'll speed things up here and there if you'd like, or do you like the pace I'm going at? Whatever, you know I'll just end up doing whatever the hell I feel like, but R+R ANYWAY!


	6. Savage Beasts at Play

****

Sero Hour

Note: this is not needed, but I felt like putting this here. Recently, my girlfriend told me that I act exactly like, Inuyasha, except he doesn't curse as much as I do. I feel proud, I guess. Oh, by the way…

Ashitaka: When you say that my story is funny, I hope your are referring to the jokes, and not the story line, because that was supposed to be the serious part (stop laughing Tim, bastard). A.D.D stands for Attention Defasis Disorder (if I spelled this wrong, phuck off). It is when people have trouble keeping their attention centered on one thing at a time. Don't worry about being stupid, I'm told that I'm quite dumb too, and the only reason I know what A.D.D is is because my parents, friends, and girlfriend think that I have it. I'm glad that I have made you laugh so hard you fell off your chair and turned you into a weird alien kid. My work here is done. As for spelling "Sesshoumaru," I have seen it spelled a million different ways, so I just spell it the way that I think is right. Same thing for "Inuyasha" and "Tetsusaiga."

P.S: If you really think I'm funny, than check out my web comic when it comes out. See my bio for more details.

Disclaimer: Okay, Rumiko, I've had enough. I. Don't. Own. Your. Stupid. Anime. If you don't let up, I'll sic Tim on you, and he'll hound you for years about the horrible spelling errors in your subtitles that us Americans that don't know Japenese have to sit through just to watch an epesode of your show. So stay off my back, and I'll keep Tim off yours :).

****

Savage Beasts at Play

OUTSIDE OF TOTOUSAI'S CAVE, VOLCANIC CRATER

The beams of light cut through the air like lasers, and ripped through the new enemy's flesh like a wegie to a man's pride. The nameless Naraku spawn's flesh and blood was blown backwards and back onto the platform from which it leapt, and painted it a new red coat. Sero smiled as he watched his newest enemy fall before him in just one swipe. He balanced Tetsusaiga on his shoulder, and sat back to admire his work. Ashley watched the gruesome sight for a moment beore leaning over the side of the lava pit and throwing up into the boiling, churning mass. Sero never noticed this, nor did he notice Miroku and Sango rush to Ashley to comfort her. No, Sero only noticed to his delight that the only part of the demon that was left in one piece was it's mask, and he thought it's mourning face was quite fitting.

Just as Sero was thinking about how much more powerful he had become, and that he might actually THANK Sesshoumaru for forcing him to do this stupid journey, when suddenly every piece of the Naraku spawn started to liquify and turn a shade of silver. The silver substance flowed together and formed into one, and began to shape itself into a body, arms and legs. Then, the mask bubbled up out of the liquid and placed itself where the head would be. Wings sprouted from its back as is walked to retrieve its blue sword. Sero was visibly stunned, but prepared Tetsusaiga again, and extended his aura to meet his opponent's aura, and saw the familiar void.

In the blink of an eye, the Naraku spawn leapt at Sero, and broke through the void, destroying it before Sero could use it (u know, like Goshinki did). Before he knew what was happening, he was neck-and-neck with the opposing demon, and couldn't do much of anything besides block the incoming sword swipes thrown by his opponent. This was because the Naraku spawn had a smaller sword, and even though Tetsusaiga was weightless, it was bulky and hard to move quickly. In a split second decision, Sero droped Tetsusaiga, dodged the next strike from his opponent, and used his claws to remove the hand that held its sword. He threw the creature's hand at its feet, where it dissolved and once again became part of it, but kept its sword. "Now who's screwed?" he said before stabbing the Naraku spawn through the heart. This supposedly fatal blow merely stunned it for a second before it pulled its sword back out of its chest, and resumed a fighting stance.

It goes without saying that Sero was pretty surprised. I know you readers are smart enough to figure out that since the Kaze no Kizu didn't kill it that a simple stab to the heart wasn't gonna do the job. Too bad Sero wasn't that smart. He just gaped at the creature as it regenerated the hole in its chest. He came back to his senses as it stabbed at him. He grabbed the incoming blade, and pushed with all his might, shoving the sword into his enemy backwards, hilt first, so that the blade stuck out towards Sero. Ignoring the pain in his hands, he figured that this would buy him some time, so he extended his aura once again as he picked up Tetsusaiga. 

He swung Tetsusaiga, made it transform, and cut the void at the same time, sending another shockwave of energy at the Naraku spawn. Sero was tired. At that moment he realized that it took quite a bit of force to cut the void. Seeing the dismay in his friend's face as the demon reformed itself, Miroku yelled to Sero: "get it in the lava!"

Now, THAT was an idea!

Sero ran headlong at the demon, and rammed into it with his shoulder just as it finished reforming, and knocked it right into the lava. The river of flame frothed up as the demon struggled to reach the surface, but it slowly subsided as the demon melted into nothingness. Sero was still staring into the magma when the creature burst forth from the firey mass and knocked him off his feet.

Now everyone was in awe.the monster had survived two Kaze no Kizu's, two stabs to the chest, and getting tossed into boiling hot magma. Something was wrong here. Then Miroku noticed: the creature's mask was somewhat melted. Suddenly, he had an epiphany. "SERO, THE MASK! DESTROY THE MASK!"

"Shut up you goddamn hippie, I KNOW what I'm doing!" Sero screamed as he cut the creature through the chest again. In truth, he was so mad that his previous efforts at killing this bastard falied miserably that he had not even heard the monk's advise. The creature hit Tetsusaiga mid-strike, and Sero didn't have enough time to turn the blade so he just smacked the creature with the blunt edge of his sword in the face. No, _mask_. The creature reeled, Sero waited for it to regenerate its face. A minute passed. Two minutes. No regeneration. Finally, it hit him.

He readied his Kaze no Kisu, and just as he swoung, the Naraku spawn struck his sword, causing an explosion that deflected both swords. They lay twenty feet apart from each other. Sero was cut pretty bad, but sat up. The demon was in a silver puddle again, but the mask was only partially destroyed. Both swords were behind his enemy. But for once, Sero had a plan.

He rose to his feet as the demon was reforming, and finished just as he reached it. When he reached it, he pulled Tetsusaiga's sheath from his side and smashed the mask over the head with it, knocking it to the ground. Naraku's spawn tried to stand, but Sero cracked it over the head again, using the sheath's barrier as a weapon. Sero droped to his nees and began to mercilessly beat away at the creature's head for what seemed like hours until, finally, it shattered. After the mask broke the body receeded ino the silver material once again, and formed a puddle in the middle of the arena. "Took you long fucking enough to die. Jesus Christ!" Sero muttered to the liquid.

Sero rose to retrieve his sword, and sheathed it before walking back to Totousai and the others. "Bravo Sero!" Sango praised. "Just like a true taija! You even used your head there! Who would have thought!"

"Thanks, I guess…" Sero muttered.

"You have really raised in strength and wits, Sero. I was worried when you didn't obey my advice immediately, but now I see that you had the situation under controll all along!" Miroku congradulated him with a pat on the back.

"You were all over him, it was amazing!" Ashley said while performing some punches and kicks at the air, and nearly falling in the lava pit.

"…right." Sero said, while stoping Ashley from falling to a boiling death.

Then Totousai walked up to Sero. "I now see that you really are as strong as Sesshoumaru hoped. For your display of strength I shall answer a question that has been haunting you for your entire life: why you survived The Awakening and are now imbued with radiation-absorbing powers."

"Wait, how did you know about-"

"Shut up, punk. You survived by the love imbued into you from your mother, and granted the power to fight back by the love imbued into you from your father. Your mother could have protected you with a miko energy field, but she did not have time to even think before it happened, and it was automatic, they loved you so much that you survived, and now you have the power to kill Naraku with his own power." Everyone was silent for five minutes. "Now, you must leave on your next journey. Undoubtably I will see you again."

Then Totousai turned to Miroku. "And now, you too must leave. Good luck, Michael Myers."

"Fuck you!" Miroku said, before dragging Sango down the mountain, followed by Sero with Ashley in the rear.

TWO DAYS LATER, A BAR LOCATED IN A TOWN MILES AWAY FROM TOKYO

He was angry. The man in question was looking for someone, but had heard hide nor hair of him for days now. This man's name was Ghost. He was looking for Sero, and was just thinking about where to find him when he overheard a conversation between some humans and a wolf demon.

"I just talked with Totousai, and he said that he sent the son of Inuyasha to meet with our leader Kouga up in the mountains! This is exciting!" Woah! That was news. A man in a large, black, tattered cloak that covered everything on him that sat one table away from Ghost got up and left. Ghost rose out of his seat and walked slowly up to the wolf demon's table.

"Tell me more…" Ghost said in his evil voice while brandishing a knife from his gloves. The wolf demon looked up at Ghost.

"Jesus Christ! You're that lunatic that attacked Tokyo!" Ghost reached out with lightning speed and held the demon three feet off the ground by his neck.

"Won't tell, huh? That's okay, I've heard all I need to know." He shoved his knife into the wolf's mouth and slowly pulled it back out, and threw him to the groud. Everyone in the bar went silent. "I have a question," he said, showing off his broad smile and sharp teeth. "Why do they continue to twitch even after I kill them? Is it because the brain waves have not refused to stop sending signals to their nerves, or that their soul is trying to make them stand up again to fight me once more?" As he finished this statement, everyone attacked him. 

One after another they ran at him, and one after another they were struck down by his knife. Soon, everyone was dead, and he walked out the door laughing. When the police arived they found many dead bodies, but not one Ghost was still alive…

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Okay readers, I know where I want my fic to go, and I have the story all planned out (translation: there will be NO writers block!). Now that I have what I want, I want to know what **_YOU_** want. Tell me what does the fic need, and I just might shove it in there somewhere, so give me a hint, and I'll give you a story!

R&R! I just ordered Inuyasha the Movie: 2, and I hope its good!

El: Until next time!

Tim: Aww, piss arf!

El: Tim, just shut the fuck up.

Tim: Read the next capter or I'll hunt you down and gut you in the night with my ninja stalking powers!

El: You and your death threats!

El and Tim: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!


	7. The Dog, the Man, and the Hazard

****

Sero Hour

El: Know what I hate? When people write small diologues in the beginnings of their fics.

Tim: Then what the fuck is this?

El: Huh? Jeezus- JACKIE! GET THAT FUCKING CAMERA OUT OF HERE!

Jackie: Why? You guys are so cute :)! 

El: Gimme that thing! (_A large hand reaches for the camera, and a smashing noise is heard before all goes blank_).

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but if YOU do I'm willing to take the idea off your hands…

****

The Dog, the Man, and the Hazard

FOREST PATH FROM TOTOUSAI'S VOLCANO

"I can't believe that he had no idea of who I am!"

Miroku had been ranting ever since they had left Totousai's. Sango was also quite angry that he had no idea who she was and that he had checked out her chest, but not as angry as Miroku. Ashly was just as happy as usual and was bouncing around Sero, who was his usual angry self. He was mostly shocked at what Totousai had said about his parents, and that was influencing his mood greatly. 'Like a bad, low-budget sci-fi movie,' he thought. 'But those movies ended with the good guy winning. Here, he was vaporized in a nuclear holocaust. Movies really piss me off.'

"Sero, I asked you a question! Sero!" Finally Sero snapped out of his daze and looked to Ashley.

"What?" Sero asked, bitterness coating the question.

"I was just asking you, what is the Kaze No Kizu like?"

"*SIGH*… Okay, picture two windstorms colloding, then picture a rip in between the two. A rip in time, like a big tear in space. Understand?" Ashley shook her head and had the most blank stare you have ever seen. "Okay… well, then you chop the rip in half, and it explodes." Ashley looked even more confused. "Fuck it, you humans have NO imagination! Honestly!" Sero threw his arms up in defeat and looked up to the sky asking why he is forced to travel with these nimrods.

This went on for about five days, when they began to near the mountains of the last remaining Wolf Tribe. As they neared the mountains they began to fight more and more demons, but Sero never lifted a finger letting Miroku and Sango have their fun. These mountains were much different than Totousai's wasteland. These were lush, green forests along steep riges and wide vallies. Nothing happened at all until the calmness was broken once again by another calamitous foe.

Everyone was just walking along the side of an inclined rige, the sun in their eyes blocking their view. Suddenly, its bright rays were dimmed by something standing at the top of the path. They all looked up, seeing the one person that they would never have dreamed of meeting up here. He stood against the red rays of the sun, the white metalic parts of his armor illuminated orange, and reflecting the image of his ghastly smile and giant sword in the noonday sun.

Ghost.

He stood before the party, his enormous zanbatou blotting out the sun. His armor had acquired a few new additions, the largest of which was two large spikes coming out of his gauntlets. Seeing they were so shocked by his grinning visage, he decided to speak first.

"Sero, you impress me. You actually managed to survive the beating I gave you last time. I hear you defeated several powerful spawns of Naraku since I last beat you. Well, time for your life to end." With that, Ghost hefted his zanbatou and entered a fighting stance, but before he could swing, Miroku threw one of his seals out of reaction. It so surprised Ghost that he stopped preparing to swing. "I realize you now depend on your friends to save you during a fight, Sero. Time to end that."

"Hey dumbass! Ya ever thought that maybe I was supporting them? Besides, I have experience and training with this sword." Sero shot back. He neglected to mention that all of his "training" was when "the damn hippie and his stick started yelling at me about all the errors I made. 'Sero, don't hold the pointy end! Sero, don't randomly kill animals with it! Sero, that's a sword, not a toothpick! Stop using it that way at once.'" 

"Ah, well then. Time to get some seclusion." 

With that, Ghost pulled a small device off of his armor and threw it to the ground. Suddenly, Sero and Ghost disappeared! All that was heard was Sero yelling random curses.

"I do suggest we get moving and try and find him. Without me, he'll end up stabbing himself again." Miroku sighed. "I suppose if we go into the forest we'll eventually find him."

Meanwhile, Sero was getting pissed off. Not only had some bastard in armor with a huge sword (probably to compensate for some 'manly issues') taken him away from the rest of the group into some fucked-up forest, but he also wasn't sure whether he could wield the Tetsusaiga without Ashley around to protect. 

"Now you idiot, draw your blade!" Ghost yelled as he ran at Sero, swing Akuijiin in a huge arc that seemed to hew through half the plant life in the forest. Sero barely got the Tetsusaiga up in time to block, and was jarred by the massive impact. He was relieved to see it had transformed, but was still pretty pissed because now he would have to search all over just to find his stupid friends. Ghost then used the momentum of his first swing to power eight separate blows, each coming faster than the one before. 

"What's the matter, Sero? No new powers to use against me? That sword is supposed to be able to cleave through the winds to kill me!"

Suddenly, Sero remembered the Kaze no Kizu. It was a last ditch effort. He calmed his mind to the best of his ability, which isn't saying much, and began to try and spot the winds clashing. For some reason, he could only see his yoki, but he aimed for the edge anyway.

"Alright shitface, you wanted it and now you got it." Stepping back from the latest assault by Ghost, he raised his sword and swung. 

****

"KAZE NO KI-WHAT THE FUCK!?!"

As he swung and saw no sudden burst of destructive energy, he realized that something was really wrong. As he realized this he was standing dumbfounded with his back to a tree and Ghost charging at him while laughing, be advised that he was quite screwed.

Through a freak coincidence of fate, just as Sero swung, Miroku said to Sango and Ashley: "I hope he remembers that Ghost isn't a demon, and therefore can't be hit with the Kaze no Kizu."

Acting on instinct, Sero flung the Tetsusaiga straight out at Ghost in a stab. Not expecting the latest maneuver, he was hit in the stomach and staggered backwards. "You have gotten better. Ah well, now time to take your advantages away." Ghost stepped backwards, dropped Akuijiin, and grabbed the spikes on his gauntlets. They were knives cleverly designed to look like decorative spikes. He flung them both, and only by a miracle did Sero not have his head skewered. It is important to note now that Sero has short hair, because in his own words: "long hair makes me look like a fuckin' pansy".

"Hah! You missed." Smiling, Sero began to run forwards, but was yanked back. His hair had been stuck to the tree by the knives. 

"Now, how to kill you? Painful and slow, or quickly so I can move on." Still grinning, Ghost retrieved Akuijiin and prepared to swing. As he did, Sero jumped and managed to evade the stroke. It cut through the bottom of the tree, and instead of landing gracefully in front of the tree like he planned, Sero was dragged to the ground by its weight. Standing, with the tree still stuck to his head, Sero got into a crude guard stance and began to renew the fight in earnest, as much as you can with a tree stuck to your head. 

Suddenly, Sero was gone. He had been in the middle of a leap at Ghost, and suddenly disappeared. Realizing that he was gone, Ghost left to search for him, musing about the loss of his brand new knives that he hadn't even had a chance to kill with yet.

At the same time, Sero was swearing once again as he kept falling. Some idiot had placed weak ground where he was going to land, and so once again he didn't have a clue where he was. He pried the knives out of the tree, decided to keep them to try and bribe Toutosai into giving him a gun, and started wandering around looking for an exit out of the cavern he was in. 

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Ashley had heard the noises of a battle coming from an exteremely small forest about half a mile long. However, when they got there they found nothing but destroyed trees and undergrowth, but no people.

"If Sero won, he would undoubtably follow our scents until he found us, so lets head on to Kouga's, and hope that he follows us," Miroku suggested. "He isn't dead, or we would have found blood, so chances are he probably escaped. If he has any sense he'd follow our scents, and if he doesn't… than he really is Inuyasha's son."

And so the began to climb the mountain once again, and it was pretty boring for about a half an hour, until they began to see gigantic bird-shapes in the sky.

"Oh my God, what is THAT?!?" Ashley suddenly pointed into the sky and they saw a truly gruesome creature. It had a large circular body with a gigantic mouth in the middle of it, and at the top of its body was a torso with arms and a head.

It suddenly and unexpectedly dove at them, and Sango was just about to throw her boomerang when two shapes appeared out of nowhere and stabbed it out of the air with spears. It was two wolf demons armed with spears, and they easily defeated the beast and walked over to our three "Heros."

"I thought all the Birds of Paradise (I forget their names in japenese, so I'll just use the English dub) died out thousands of years ago." Miroku said to the wolf.

"They supposedly did, but a few have reapeared here and there. By the way, who are you and what business do you have here?" One of the wolves walked up to Miroku.

"I am Miroku, and this is Sango and Ashley. Me and Sango traveled with a half-breed known as Inuyasha for years, and have brought his son to see Kouga." The wolves' faces were shocked beyond belief. "I'll explain later, just please take us to Kouga as fast as you can."

"Where is the son of Inuyasha?"

"Oh… he was… _sidetracked_. But he'll be along in a moment."

"You say you traveled with Inuyasha? Kouga will be overjoyed to see you. He has fallen into a state of depression over the death of Misstress Ayame. But your visit may very well be the thing that cheers him up!"  


This supprised Miroku and Sango. Ayame was dead? This was a shock. They all walked up the trail and took a few short cuts, allowing them to reach the waterfall where Kouga resided much quicker than it would have normally taken them.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

A man in a tattered black cloak walked swiftly up the main trail to the wolf demon Kouga's lair. Suddenly, two wolf demons jumped out from behind trees and held spears out towards the traveler, who stoped walking.

"Who are you and what business do you have on this mountain?"

The man in the cloak stood in silence, his face hidden from view. "Answer us! Answer or we shall attack!" The wolves were growing both impatient and scared, this guy was creepy. 

"Fine, but we warned you!" Both the wolves charged and stabbed at him. The spears stoped a foot away from the cloaked man and the bladed tips broke off of the spears and flew in opposite directions. Without stoping to think about what just happened, the one wolf demon leapt into the air and threw a kick directed at the cloaked man's head. The man stuck his hand out and blew the wolf backward and into a tree with an invisible force, knocking him to the ground with a loud crack, signifying broken bones.

The other wolf ran to his injured comrade, and nealt down next to him. "Find Kouga, warn him of the intruder!" The wolf demon watched his friend pass out, and swore to return to him as soon as he warned Kouga of the intruder. Without a second thought he ran as fast a wolf demon could go straight to Kouga's cave.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Sero finally made it out of the cavern. It seemed that someone had made a trap hole in the ground of the forest he was fighting Ghost in that went down about one hundred feet before opening into a small cave. After ten minutes of bumbling about and stabbing himself on those "goddamn spiky things on the floor" he made it to the mouth of the cave. The only way to get back up the mountain from here was to climb a steep and perilous rocky path complete with loose stones and mud.

"Aww, shyt. Just my luck. Ghost, fuck you," he muttered to himself as he looked up the path he was about to attempt to traverse. At least he got one thing out of his fight with Ghost: two new knives. Sero had placed the knives on his belt with his sword for quick use. 

He walked over to the steep path and looked up to find the best platform of rocks to jump onto. Most looked rickity and held together by pebbles and loose dirt, but he eventually saw a nice sturdy looking one. He leapt ten feet straight into the air and landed square on the platform, only to have it start shaking and fall, making him jump back down to the cavern mouth to avoid falling to his death.

"Awww, MAN! And that one looked sturdy. God DAMN YOU GHOST!!!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The great wolf demon Kouga was sulking in his cave as usual. He had been like this quite often after one of Naraku's spawn killed Ayame one year ago. He would sit in his little corner and look at a picture of her for hours on end. It seemed that every time he would turn around another one of his friends would die. First were Inuyasha and Kagome, then Royakan, and now Ayame.

His sweet misery was interrupted when two of his guards brought three people to him, two of wich smelled vaguely familiar.

"Kouga! Remember us?" Miroku was still a little pissed off that Totousai had no idea who he was, and had his hopes up that Kouga would at least call him a letch. Instead, Kouga gave Miroku a blank stare.

"You and your friend smell familiar… where do I know you from?"

"GOD DAMNIT!"

"Ummm… we were Inuyasha and Kagome's traveling companions. You may remember us as- STOP WHINING, MIROKU! YOU CAN'T EXPECT HIM TO REMEMBER SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO!!!!- anyway, I am Sango, the annoying hippie- err- houshi is Miroku, and this is Ashley."

Kouga thought for a moment. Yes, he did remember two people that traveled with Inuyasha and Kagome, and that they were sealed during the fight with Naraku… how did they escape? Hmmmm… "Yes… now that you mention it, I DO remember you."

Miroku uncrossed his arms and threw his fists into the air in a victory stance. "BOO-YAH!"

"Houshi, you are such a nerd."

"Anyway," Kouga tried to change the subject. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, well we found the son of Inuyasha and brought him back to Tokyo with us, but his uncle didn't think he is strong enough to BE the son of Inuyasha, so he sent him on an adventure as training," Ashley answered cheerfully. "We already met Totousai, and now we are here!"

Wait wait wait wait wait a second here. The son of Inuyasha. Here. Alive. Wow. "Where exactly is he?" Kouga asked with antisipation.

"Oh, on our way here we were waylayed by some crazed foreigner and Sero, that's his name, got into a fight with him. We're pretty sure he escaped because we found no blood, but we figured he would just head to the top of the mountain, here, because it would be the most logical place for you to stay."

This did not sit well with Kouga. "There are a lot of traps set by our guards here to make sure no one can scale the mountain, don't you think he could be in trouble?"

"Naaah," Miroku reassured, "He's got a thick skull like his dad, and if he encounters some traps think of it as training. He'll be fine."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

On the side of the mountain, Sero was frantically jumping from platform to platform before they fell. He tripped on one of the platforms, drew Tetsusaiga, and shoved it into the wall to keep himself from falling to his death.

"GOD DAMN YOU, GHOST!"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sry this chapter is late, I had some… distractions. My friend stole my Hellsing DVD, and he lives in Wisconsin. That's a problem, because **I** live in Pennsylvania. So I've been trying to straighten that out… and by the way, I want to give a shout out to Tim for writing the Ghost/Sero fight scene (another reason it took so long to write the chapter, it took Tim a WEEK to write that little fight scene!). You can tell when it's Tim writing, it's when the grammar gets really good and big words start to pop up… usually big words I don't know.

THE NOTE FROM TIM: If you haven't noticed yet, someone other than Randomunit02 has written part of this chapter. It was I, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TIM! I took time out of my busy schedule trying to overthrow the Earth and creating an infinite mix of Sean Paul's "Get Busy" to write this for you. Any attempt to harm Randomunit02 will result in the infini-mix being sent to your computer, taking hold of your speakers and driving you insane. There is no way to stop it. Now be grateful that I even did this, fools. MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHH!!!!!!!!!

The Bringer of Pain and all Other Forms of Hurty-ness,

Tim, AKA DanteTheRedFlame 

NOTE FROM RANDOM: Tim is the kind of guy that would make a bomb because some poor restarant bus-boy looked at him funny. Now you see why I tend not to tick him off. Besides, I HATE Sean Paul! (shivers)


	8. Maleficent

****

Sero Hour

Disclaimer: Inuyasha don't own, I do.

Ashitaka/Raynin/Whaterverthefuckyouareatthecurrenttime: Yeah, Tim's a slow half-ass. You get used to it, though.

****

Maleficent

MOUNTAINSIDE

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

You guessed it. That was a Sero scream. He had just tripped and nearly fallen to his death again, but was saved when he fell on a platform that really WAS stable. He sat on it for a few minutes collecting his thoughts before the platform began to shake and he was off again!

Now Sero could see where this gauntlet ended, and was nearing it when not just the platform he leapt off of but an entire section of the mountain came loose and began to tumble downward. Sero dodged for five minutes nonstop begore he overcame the gigantic piece of rock and with one mighty leap he was on stable land once again.

"…. *pant* *pant* *pant*… fuck… yes…" And with that Sero fell to his knees and let the air he was deprived of for five minutes pour into his lungs. He was only able to stand up because of the one emotion coursing through his body: anger at the hippie. No, he didn't have a reason to be angry with Miroku but he was the most logical scapegoat at the moment. "I'm gonna **kill** him," Sero muttered through clentched teeth as he began to swiftly travel farther up the side of the mountain.

After about ten minutes of climbing, Sero could smell wolf close by. And human, too. He followed the human scent until he reached a small cave behind a waterfall that reeked of wolf to the point he almost couldn't smell the humans. Sero hid behind a rock and peered into the cave. At the entrance there were two wolf demon guards with spears, and behind them were dozens of wolf demons wadering aimlessly about. At the far end of the cave Sero spotted the three humans talking to a wolf demon. Not that he noticed anything but the fact that Miroku was at the far end of the cave, and that if he ran full-speed he could most likely get to him untouched.

Sero ran up to the two guards at the entrance and they crossed their spears as if to bar his path. "Halt. Who are yo-" they began, but Sero had already leapt over them and began running at full-speed straight towards Miroku, who looked up at him.

"Hey, Ser-" *WHAM* Sero tackled Miroku to the ground and was on top of him, choking him as if to squeeze the pervertedness right out of him.

"LEAVE ME BEHIND, WILL YOU!?!? I'LL SHOW YOU!" By now four wolf demons had pried Sero away from Miroku, and Sango was at his side while Ashley tried to calm Sero down. Kouga, wide-eyed, crouched next to Miroku.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll live."

"Do you know that man?"

"There's the son of Inuyasha for you…."

Kouga frowned and looked at Sero, who was sitting in a cave corner being lectured by Ashely where several armed wolf demons stood nearby. "Why am I not surprised?"

After another five minutes of lecturing Sero and Ashley came over to sit with Kouga, Sango, and Miroku, who edged away from Sero with a fearful expression on his face.

"Sero," Sango said, "meet Kouga, leader of the wolf tribe." Sango motioned to Kouga. Sero stood and bowed, as did Kouga.

"Name's Sero. I'm the son of Inuyasha, nephew of Sesshoumaru, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah…" Kouga began to chuckle at this. "What's so funny?"

"You're much more laid back than your father. But it also seems you're just as violent as him."

"I'll take that as a compliment and hope you never say it again."

Kouga laughed at this, too. "Maybe you aren't as laid back as I though you were."

They talked for another half-hour about Sero's journeys since he left America and of the events that had transpired in Japan. Finally Sango asked a question that was pissing her off.

"Sero, why did you attack Miroku?"

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr…." Sero growled, making Miroku take cover beind Sango. "Well…." Then he told the story of his battle with Ghost and of his lucky escape. He left out the part about the tree being stuck to his head. Then he told them about his dangerous climb up the booby-trapped mountainside, and Kouga remarked that his booby-traps were a relative success.

"So you're telling, me," Miroku said with confidance regained, "that that loon is still wandering around?"

"Pretty much."

Miroku was just about to give Sero holy hell for letting that murderer loose when a wolf demon ran into the cave screaming for Kouga. "What is it?" Kouga ran to the wolf demon to receive the message.

"An intruder wearing a black cloak attacked us and is now marching swiftly up the South side of the mountain. Our weapons were useless against him." Kouga then gave orders to his men to spread out and search for the intruder and kill on sight.

"Sero," Kouga asked, "is this the person you fought?"

"No. The freak that attacked me wore armor, not a cloak. And we were never on the South side of the mountain."

"This is bad, now there's two of them!" Ashley was getting gittery.

Everyone talked for about another half-hour until they got word again from one of the wolf demon forces patrolling the mountain.

"We encountered him but our weapons couldn't touch him! We have many wounded and he is still advancing quickly."

Kouga was agrrivated by this sudden turn of events. "Don't worry, I have a new plan. Pull back and let him come here. They are probably after Sero, but once they get here I have a surprise for them!" Behind him Ginta and Haggaku (the wolf demons with a mowhawk and spiky hair) loaded handguns. (O_o)

"Right!" The wolf demon seemed to be quite happy to be pulling out of the battle with this invader. He just hoped that Kouga could handle this guy.

They walked outside near the waterfall and waited. After about five minutes or so a wolf demon ran down the path towards them.

"Kouga! We pulled back, but I was sent to inform you that the intruder is coming! Not only that, but he's right on my tail!" The wolf's voice was obviously filled with fear.

"Don't worry, I have this all under control," Kouga said calmly. "Now we wait."

They stood there in silence for five whole minutes, only the waterfall could be heard. Then, a man was seen coming down the same path the wolf scout walked down. He was standing hunched over, and was covered in a black cloak with several rips and tears in it. He stoped suddenly about ten feet from our "heros" and didn't say a word. Without warning Kouga sprang into action.

"FIRE!" Kouga's command shattered the silence as Ginta and Haggaku drew their handguns and fired at the cloaked stranger, who's hand shot out and threw his cloak off, obscuring everyone's view of him. Ginta and Haggaku emptied their entire clips firing at the man behind the thrown cloak. but when it fell from the air and let them see their "visitor," they were stunned in more ways than one.

For one, he was alive and standing. The second thing that startled them was his appearance. He seemed to posess the size and face of a fifteen year old boy, but he had a yellow triangle painted on his forehead. The expression on his face was totally unreadable, much like Sesshoumaru. He wore a most elaborate red kimono that's colors would ripple as if it were alive.

Ginta and Hagguaku backed up slowly. There was no way they missed every shot. Kouga got into a fighting stance. "I don't know who you are, but your leaving… NOW!" Kouga leapt into the air and aimed his fist directly at the boy's face. The boy merely sidesteped, and Kouga was thrown forcefully at a wall with a loud crack.

Everyone rushed to his aid but he stubbornly stood up with much difficulty, ready to fight again. "No, Kouga, sit down. He's here for me." Kouga looked over at Sero and tried to protest his actions, but was too late as he was already walking towards the boy.

Sero drew the Tetsusaiga and got into a battle position. He ran at the boy and swung. Once again, the kid merely sidesteped a little and Sero's sword was flung in another direction. Unluckily, Sero was still holding onto it, and slid across the ground. He quickly stood back up and ran at the boy only to be tossed across the ground again. He repeated this vicious cycle many times before he stoped to think about what he was doing.

Sero looked over the boy. There didn't seem to be anything special about him. Wait… why couldn't Sero smell him? Now that was strange. Then he saw it, the boy's aura.

"This may possibly be a little bit of overkill on my part, but you started it!" The Tetsusaiga crashed down on the ground and sent the Kaze no Kizu careening towards the boy. The moment the beams of light hit him, a flash of light appeared and obscured the views of eveyone. When the light dimmed, the boy was still standing there, but everything around him lie broken and decimated.

"This it like a deleted epesode of the Twilight Zone!" Sero was furious, and ran at the boy full-speed. This time, the boy thrust his arms out at Sero when he was about two feet away, and sent him flying into a wall at high speeds just like Kouga.

Sero looked up at the boy, anger written all over his face. He was having trouble standing up, and fell back to the ground. He looked at the boy once more, and watched the falling leaves from the trees cascade around him (it's fall. Sorry, forgot to mention that). Literally. A leaf was going to land on his shoulder, but whipped around him in a two-foot radious. He was untouched by the leaves. He had a barrier. A god damn, mother fucking invisible barrier.

Suddenly, everyone heard a clanking to their right, and looked in that direction in awe. Sero just wished that he wasn't so preoccupied with his current fight that he would have noticed that Ghost had walked right up the path towards them, directly under their noses.

"What is going on here?" Ghost looked from Sero to the young boy, his face showing puzzlement. Miroku whispered something to Kouga, whose eyes suddenly lit up.

"YOU NEVER TOLD ME THAT **GHOST** WAS THE PERSON THAT WAYLAYED YOU!" Kouga was screaming in Miroku's ear. Ghost merely ignored everyone but Sero and the young boy and drew the Akujin.

He ran at the kid and thrust Akujin out at the boy's face, but just like Sero and Kouga before him, Ghost's weapon slid around the boy. Before the kid could stick his hand out to blast Ghost backwards, he leapt away.

"Just as I thought." Ghost smile turned into a frown. "I hoped I'd never have to battle YOU, Maleficent." Kouga gasped and the boy called Maleficent smiled. "Yours is said to be the strongest barrier ever, nothing is supposed to be capable of bypassing it." Now Ghost smiled. "That's why I had Totousai make me this sword…."

Ghost slid his hand across Akujin's blade. Slowly, four runes began to glow a soft blue across the blade. Soon the runes were a bright blue that radiated light. Ghost leapt into the air and brought Akujin down upon Maleficent's head!

"AKUJIN! **BARRIER BREAK!**"

When Akujin was two feet away from maleficent there was a flash of light and suddenly the barrier was visible! There was another flash of light, and Ghost was thrown back against the ground. More runes appeared on Akujin, and once again he tried his Barrier Break tecnique, but he was bounced back again. Once more, runes appeared. Now the sword seemed to be covered in blue runes, and he performed the Barrier Break one last time. This time, however, he was only knocked back a few feet.

Maleficent created a green enery ball in his hand and threw it at Ghost, who sliced it in half. Maleficent began to throw several energy balls at Ghost, who blocked all of them, sending them flying in every direction and demolishing their sourroundings.

These two seemed to be at a draw. Ghost could not get through Maleficent's barrier, and Ghost's sword was allowing him to block Maleficent's projectiles. Everyone was silent as Ghost and Maleficent stared eachother down. The silence was broken when a loud clicking was heard. Ghost reached over to his right shoulder and checked a small device that seemed to be a compact Geiger counter. His eyes widened.

"So, Maleficent, since when have you become radioactive?" Ghost's eyes narrowed at his adversary, who's face remained impassive. Ghost's face twisted into a menacing sneer. "Was it since Naraku defiled your master's shrine? Is that why your after the son of Inuyasha?" Ghost was becoming visibly angry. "Out with it!"

Without warning, a large demonic aura began to fill the sorrounding area. Sero, who supposedly was too injured to even think clearly stood up slowly and caught everyone's attention. He looked up at his two opponents, and his eyes glowed blood red.

"How?!?" Ghost whispered, his eyes wide with amazement. His amazement was halted, however, when he clentched his teeth and narrowed his eyes as he ran full speed at Sero. 

Ghost swung Akujin at Sero's head, and he ducked under the blade. Then he thrust at Sero, who sidesteped the strike. This went on for about five minutes, and Ghost's fury only grew. Finally, Sero sidestepped another swipe of Akujin and flung his hand at Ghost, his claws out and prepared to wipe every feature from his face. Ghost dodged backwards, causing all but one claw to miss, and that claw dug a deep diagonal gash from his chin to his forehead across his nose.

Ghost stumbled backward and fell to the ground, droping Akujin and covering his face with one of his hands. Eyes of pure loathing gazed upon Sero through Ghost's fingers as blood poured through them and onto the ground. The Geiger counter's clicking was even louder this time, and Ghost didn't even have to look at it to reach a reasonable conclusion.

"The radiation does this to you, doesn't it!?!" Sero only smiled sinisterly at him. "How?!?"

"When you were blocking the radioactive energy attacks from Maleficent, I was hit by a stray one. As for why radiation works on me like this, that is not a story for your ears." Sero turned his attention to Maleficent and drew Tetsusaiga, and was sent another wave of shock: the sword was red.

Miroku saw the red blade and knew from that instant that Sero could win. "Sero! Now the Kaze no Kizu can break barriers!"

Sero nodded and extended his aura to meet his opponent's once again, saw the void, and sliced. Red waves of energy flew towards Maleficent and tore through his barrier leaving him unprotected and bare. Sero rushed him, slicing Maleficent's thrown projectiles in half as he ran. Soon he was within striking range. Maleficent rose his arms over his face to shield his eyes as the Tetsusaiga split him in half diagnoally. There was no blood, but when Maleficent's body hit the floor it turned to stone.

Satisfied, Sero balanced Tetsusaiga on his shoulder and turned to Ghost. Rather than seeing fear in Ghost's eyes, Sero saw anger in its purest form. Ghost removed his hand from in front of his face and picked up Akujin as he got to his feet, and covered his face with a sneer so fueled by anger you could feel it. He ran at Sero and fought with all the skill, strength, and speed he could muster. Yet this seemed not to be enough, for Sero's radioactive-enhanced body was more powerful than ever before, and it got to a point where Sero was blocking moves that Ghost hadn't even done yet. Finally, Sero blocked a swing, spun around, and kicked Ghost in the face, sending him sprawled across the floor.

Ghost slowly stood to his feet, the cut in his face was bleeding uncontrollably as a new black eye was placed neatly upon his visage. Still his body shook with anger and his eyes burned with hate. Akujin's runes all went out one by one, and the sword then was sheathed at Ghost's back.

"He's gonna make a break for it!" Upon Miroku's announcement, Ghost sprung away at high speeds before Sero could react. Ginta and Haggaku were on Ghost's tail immediately. Ghost leapt off the side of the mountain and into the nearby waterfall, causing Ginta and Haggaku to halt their persuit.

"Quickly, we must go to the bottom of the waterfall and search for him!" Ginta shouted, and the two of them were off. As soon as they were gone, Sero fell on one knee and balaced himself on the Tetsusaiga. Ashley quickly ran to his side.  


"My enhanced state is helping me deal with this pain, but I'm pretty sure that I have a broken rib or two," Sero muttered before falling over and blacking out.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sorry this is late. I've been busy doing shit. So sue me.

Note from Tim: Dear Ungrateful Reader, 

This is Dante, a.ka. Tim. There are several factors that contributed to the loss of chapter 7's schedual. One of them is my computer. Microsoft Word, in which I write, deleted itself forty-seven times. Always overnight, when I was trying to sleep. It also deleted all related components, such as word documents. I lost parts of my fic, and so am doomed to time loss. Reason 2 is laziness. And reason 3 is evil. When I find your address, you will be bombarded with the Infini-mix. You must also know that after giving up in frustation and doing research (playing Viewtiful Joe and watching Yu Yu Hakusho), I decided to do it out of consideration for Random. Now, I hate everyone except relatives and close friends. We were also working on other concepts for future chapters. So, in short: Fuck off, it's not my problem.

Dante Away!!! 

Note from Random:

Raynin, if you think that was harsh, have pity on the guy. It's his time of month ;). I'll keep the Infini-mix away from your comp, too.

Stay tuned.


	9. Homecoming

****

Sero Hour

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. See, if I did I wouldn't have to write fanfiction to pass the time. I'd just make episodes. :P

Raynin: u didn't do anything wrong. Tim just has no anger management control, so he's gotta blow off steam somehow. Don't take it personally.

****

Homecoming

MOUNTAINSIDE

Ginta and Haggaku rushed down the side of the mountain astride the waterfall. They stopped briefly to look over a ledge and into the churning mass of crushing water.

"He's dead. No way a human could survive that," Haggaku said.

"That should make his body easy to find." And they were off.

When the two of them reached the bottom of the waterfall, they searched the area around where the water met land, but found nothing. Not to be discouraged, they waded into the water up to their waist and returned to their search. The silence was shattered by Ginta's yelling.

"AHH! SOMETHING'S GOT MY LEG! SOMETHING'S GOT MY-" With that, Ginta was pulled beneath the water.

"Ginta! GINTA! Where are you?!?"

Haggaku ran to where his friend was, yelling his name. Suddenly, Ginta stood up out of the water a small distance from where he started. Haggaku ran to his friend, but Ginta tried to tell him to get away.

"BACK OFF! WATCH OUT! HE'S HERE SOMEWH-"

Ghost leapt up out of the water and kicked Ginta aside before pouncing on Haggaku with a loud war cry.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Sero awoke lying on a bed in what seemed to be a hospital. He lethargically looked to his left to see Kouga sitting on a chair watching him. "Morning." Sero stared at him for a little longer before his brain regestered what Kouga had said.

"How long have I been out?"

"About a day, that's it. That Ashley girl wouldn't leave your bed. I had to threaten her to make her get some sleep." Kouga saw Sero's eyes wander around the room in wonder. "We are inside one of the mountains. Some of these mountains have cities built right into them by us."

"Ah." Sero said, not really listening. "I got a question. Who was that Maleficent guy?"

Kouga leaned back in his chair to a more realxing position before beginning his story. "Maleficent was the guardian of a shrine dedicated to a powerful and kind demon that lived while your dad was alive. The demon had the ability to create strong barriers, and used them to protect humans from dangerous demons. One day, the demon sacrificed his life to maintain his barrier against a powerful attack from an army of Oni. A shrine was constructed for him and his heart was placed there, and it created a powerful barrier that protected Tokyo from Oni. A guardian was created to defend the shrine by use of powerful barriers: Maleficent. Recently, someone visited the shrine, but did not find Maleficent, but they found the demon's heart. It was melted by radiation. It seemed as though Naraku defiled the place, and in doing so warped the mind of Maleficent."

"That sucks." Sero's remark was quiet and bored. "Well," he said taking a breath, "if your done talking I'd like to see my friends."

Sero sat up in the hospital bed and pulled the sheets away before getting on his feet. Kouga opened the door for him and led him out of the room and into a white hallway. Kouga then led him down the hallway until they reached a small waiting room where they found Miroku, Sango, and Ashley waiting. The moment they walking in, Ashley saw them and jumped to her feet.

"Sero!" Ashley ran to him at full speed and gave him a huge hug that sent him off balance. "I was worried about you! You were bleeding pretty bad!"  


Sero looked down at her with a stunned and uneasy expression on his face from being jumped so suddenly. His face sofened before returning the hug, and looked up at his two other friends.

"Sero, glad to see your okay! I was worried when that weird guy smashed you against the wall, but now it seems that you're okay," Sango said with a smile. Then the hippie walked over.

"Well would you look at that," Miroku said as he crossed his arms with a smile. "Two aspiring lovebirds in a passionate hug! When can I expect the children?"

It was at that moment Ashley realized what she was doing and released Sero, blushing madly. 'Damn,' Sero thought. 'And I was just beginning to enjoy that.'

"Glad to see your okay," Miroku continued. "How are your ribs?"

"I'll live."

Just then the doors at one end of the room opened and a female wolf demon walked swiftly to Kouga.

"Sir, Ginta and Haggaku have returned," she said solemly, getting Kouga's attention.

"Did they catch him?"

"In a manner of speaking… come and see."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Kouga stood over Haggaku, who lay in a hospital bed. According to Ginta, Ghost had mercilessly beaten Haggaku into submission before throwing him into a tree. It looked more like a truck had hit him, then backed up over him for good measure. He had a broken arm, three broken ribs, a broken leg, and his skull wasn't looking good either.

The good news was that he was alive, and they were pretty sure he'd stay that way. Sero had no clue how they had that idea. One look at Haggaku's condition made him sick to the stomache. He had suggested that Ashley not see him, but she did anyway. Ginta had gotten off easy with nothing majorly hurt on him, but he did end up with a killer bruise.

Later that day, Haggaku amazingly regained conciousness long enough for everyone to talk to him. Aparently he would pull through, but it would take a while even for his demon integrity to regenerate his body. He also thanked Ginta to no end for carrying him back.

"I'll hunt that bastard until the day I die for this," Kouga muttered to himself, his fist shaking with anger.

"Unless you have a rocket launcher, don't bother. That guy is too strong to even be a demon."

"Thanks Sero, I'll remember that incredible advice," Kouga snapped.

Everyone left to prepare for their trip back to Tokyo, but Kouga remained by Haggaku's side.

About two days later, the group readied for their inevitable journey back home. Kouga caught up to them on their way out.

"Hey, Sero! You didn't even say goodbye!"

"Feh! I don't like goodbyes. They always lead into crying and sad talk, which pisses me off," Sero said crossly.

"Sero! You told us that Kouga had left to look for Ghost and that he was nowhere in sight!" Ashley looked at Sero disbelievingly as she yelled at him.

"Well I lied, okay! And anyway- WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?!?!"

Kouga was rolling around on the ground clutching his stomache laughing. Eventually he was able to stand up but continued to chuckle.

"Ha ha ha, what did you just say?"

"That I don't like goodbye-"

"Befrore that!"

"Feh?"

This made Kouga breake out into hysterical laughter again. This was making Sero uncomfortable, and he began to edge away from Kouga looking fearful. Eventually Kouga was able to stand up by supressing his laughter.

"Your father used to say that. Brings back memories."

"Riiiiiiiiiight. Okay, we'll be going now."

Everyone said their goodbyes to Kouga and began to part ways.

"I'll see you again someday, Sero!"

"Hopefully not, but we probably will!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Nothing significant happened on their return journey home. It was mostly quiet, the silence shattered here and now by the sound of Sero's falling out of trees as he ran atop them. He was by no means as graceful as his father. Eventually, they found that Tokyo was in sight, and they rushed to it. When they reached the Gate Ashley called up to the guard keeping watch.

"Heeeeeey! We're back from our journey!"

"Ashley! It's good to see you again! Your father was anxious for your return home, as was your uncle, Sero. I'll let you in right away!"

The gate opened and they stepped through. They decided to go to Ashley's home first and see her father. On their way everyone was saying hello and asking how their adventure went. Finally they made it to Ashey's house, and she ran in at light-speed.

"DAD!"

"Ashley! You're back! How was your little journey?"

"It was cool," Ashely said as the other three entered the house.

"Ah, Sero, Sango, and Miroku! How was it?"

"Well, this wasn't anything new to me and Sango," he replied in a suave tone. "But Sero learned a few new tricks."

"So, Sero. You learned a thing or two, did you?"

"You could say that."

"Really. Was your adventure as boring as sitting in your tree? It's been vacant for some time now."

"All that's gonna change. The last couple of weeks were interesting, but not relaxing. I need a nap."

"No you don't," Sango was quick to reply. "Sure you vege out a little, but you need to practice your swordsmanship a little. That way you won't end up with so many wounds everytime you get into a fight."

"You can't make me," Sero said with a smile. That smile went away as Sango gripped her boomerang closer to her body and narrowed her eyes. He knew she was kidding, but he knew what that thing could do to Miroku, so he stayed away from it as much as he could.

"Well, you might want to go see your uncle. In fact, you should have seen him first," Nobunaga said. "He asked that upon your return that me and Miroku come with you to see him."

"Okay. Ashley, I'll be back in a little," Sero said, putting on a serious face.

"My dearest Sango," Miroku said, getting down on one knee and holding her hand. "I promise swift return to you!"

****

*WHAM*

Once again, Sero had to drag Miroku somewhere. This wasn't always pleasant. If he was in a good mood he would carry him. If he was in a bad mood he would just drag him across the ground. Right now he was dragging him because he was tired of carrying him, and this always woke Miroku up quickly. Aside from getting his face very dirty, Miroku was uninjured, and continued to walk by foot.

Sesshoumaru's office was in a small three floor building. Sesshoumaru's office itself was on the third flood, so they took the elevator to the third floor and entered a lavish office. Miroku had to restrain himself from laughing at Sesshoumaru at a desk job. Sesshoumaru noticed this and looked at him with a questionable face when he noticed how dirty Miroku's face was from being dragged across the ground.

"What are you laughing at, monk. And what happened to your face?"

Miroku opened his mouth to respond, but Sero beat him to it.

"Don't worry about it. Now what did you call me for-"

"Sit."

Sesshoumaru had cut him off and pointed at three chairs. Sero rolled his eyes and sat down. Then he opened his mout but Sesshoumaru cut him off again.

"How was your little journey?" 

"I learned a few stuff here and there, so it was worth it."

"Good. I hoped that your lazy ass wouldn't get in the way of your training."

"Well, it didn't. Now, what did you call me here for and tell us not to bring Ashley or Sango?"

"That, my boy, is confidential information," a new voice said. They looked to the corner of the room and saw a person lurking in the shadows. When he stepped out, they saw that it was Totousai. "But if you can keep a secret, so can I!"

"I doubt that," Sero snapped. "You have an incredibly bad memory for these things. And what the hell were you doing standing back there in the shadows? That's just fucking creepy!"

Toutousai just stared at him for a couple of minutes before saying, "Who?"

"Awww, screw it! Wierdo…."

At this, Totousai sat down next to Sesshoumaru, who said, "I told you not tbring Ashley because what I want to talk to you about concerns her. I left the exterminator with her because I thought she would be lonely, and I thought that you, Nobunaga, would want to hear this."

"You see," Totousai continued, "we think that Ashley is the reincarnation of your mother's soul, Sero."

Sero stared at them blankly for a minute or so before concluding, "Your full of bullshit."

"Think about it," Totousai continued. "Miroku, how were you released from Naraku's barrier?

"It was… Ashley. She broke the barrier, and when she did so I mistook her for Kagome. Yo, wait a second… YOU REMEMBERED MY NAME-"

"And Sero," Totousai turned to Sero. "When you fell into the blast crater, how did Ashley come to save you? Mikos have always had a stong link to demons."

"So what your saying," Nobunaga said. "is that my daughter is the reincarnation of a priestess who was the reincarnation of a priestss, and who's soul was cut in half to ressurrect the latter priestess but was eventually returned to the former priestess?"

Everyone stared at him for a minute or so.

"Yeah… I guess. That is, if you mean to say that she is the reincarnation of Kagome."

"Yeah, I said that."

"Oh, okay then…. Yeah, you pretty much have it."

Miroku bowed his head in prayer. "Will her restless soul EVER find peace!?!?"

"That said," replied Totousai. "I may have another mission for you in the future."

Sero groaned.

"Good to see your enthusiasum." Totousai continued. "You see, there exists a machine that can detect who a person's soul previously belonged to. Very cool piece of hardware, wouldn't mind playing around with it a little myself. *ahem*, anyway, we could probably use it to see who's soul Ashley's is."

"Buuuuuuuut…?"

"Well, I have no idea where to find the blasted thing. But the moment I do, I'll give you a call."

"Just one more question. How the hell did you know all about these events involving Ashley?"

"Shut up, punk."

They concluded their meeting and set off to Ashley's house. They filled Sango in privately later that night, but the moment they entered the door Ashley pestered them to tell them what Sesshoumaru had said.

"Don't worry about it," Sero had said, but that didn't shut her up.

Eventually, Sero grabbed a sweater and went to his tree to sleep. For some reason he couldn't get Ashley out of his mind. Oh well, at least those thoughts would help him get to sleep….

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Tim: That was it? That took you a MONTH?

El: Stuff it. You havent updated your fic in 3 months. It's got 1 chapter!

Tim: Yeah, well… shut up.

El: Oh, yeah. Very mature.

Tim: Sorry for the feeble insult, I've been doing too much research.  


El: You mean you've been watching anime and calling it research.  


Tim: Yeah.....  
  


Sorry it took a month to update. I've been doing some important stuff, and haven't had a lot of time to myself. I'll update soon, though.

-RandomUnit02

Stay tuned.


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